The conflict, one of two long-running insurgencies that have hobbled development and investment in the Southeast Asian nation, has killed 40,000 people and stunted growth in deprived but mineral-rich rural areas.
The Manila government and the National Democratic Front (NDF), political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines, have been in stop-start negotiations for nearly 25 years to end a conflict that started in the late 1960s.
Talks resumed in Nesbru, Norway on Feb. 15, the first formal meeting in more than six years. The negotiations are not expected to produce immediate results, but the two sides could agree to hold more talks.
Jorge Madlos, known as Ka (comrade) Oris, NDF spokesman on southern island Mindanao, said soldiers had violated a cease-fire deal struck for the talks by going on patrols, and attacking rebel positions in the mining province of Compostela.
“These violations are indelible marks of the government’s hypocritical and disingenuous attitude toward the peace process,” Madlos said in a media statement.
“Until and unless the government is able to keep its troops at bay inside their respective barracks during cease-fire, then its pronouncement of being ‘open’ to another round of cease-fire does not inspire confidence.”
Army commander Lt. General Arturo Ortiz said it was the rebels who violated the cease-fire, saying soldiers had stopped Maoist New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas from laying land mines on the central island of Samar on Saturday.
Rebels also attacked troops in Davao Oriental last week, an army spokesman said.
The two sides held closed door negotiations despite the violations and the arrest of Alan Jazmines, a senior rebel leader, during a raid north of Manila last week.
The rebels demanded Jazmines’ immediate release, saying he was a consultant to the peace talks. They also wanted Manila to free about a dozen other rebel leaders involved in peace negotiations.
