The Negotiating Team of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) would like to thank each and every one of you and your organizations for steadfastly supporting and accompanying the peace process, and tirelessly advocating the people’s clamor for social justice, genuine democracy and emancipation from all forms of exploitation and oppression.
Your unwavering commitment for a just and lasting peace inspires us to continue to pursue our quest for a peace that will address the root causes of the armed conflict.
It has been more than two years since the Oslo Joint Statement was signed in November 23, 2023 by the delegations of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP).
The Joint Statement expressly stated that the two sides will work towards a final peace agreement that addresses the root causes of the armed conflict in order to achieve a just and lasting peace.
Discussions in the informal exploratory talks between the NDFP and the GRP, with the invaluable support by the Royal Norwegian Government’s Third Party Facilitator team, were centered mainly on the contents of a Framework Agreement prior to the start of formal peace negotiations between formal peace panels designated by the respective principals of the two parties.
Most of the issues, many of which were controversial, were resolved in more than two years of on-and-off meetings of the two sides. One issue remains. Embedded in just one paragraph, it pertains to the disposition of the revolutionary armed forces, which the GRP side insists should be included in the framework agreement without reference to the prior solution of the social, economic and political problems at the root of the armed conflict.
The NDFP has always maintained that the Joint Statement should lead to a resumption of peace talks based on the sequence of substantive agendas well established during the quarter-century of peace negotiations between the NDFP and GRP. It is borne out of the conviction that only a solution of the present ills of Filipino society, namely extreme poverty, landlessness and absence of land reform, lack of industries, high corruption in the bureaucracy, lack of sovereignty can truly ensure a just and lasting peace.
As peace advocates, a concrete way to push the peace process is to resume the process based on the agreements of The Hague Joint Declaration and the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law that created the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC). In line with this, the NDFP remains committed to exploring and discovering principled solutions to enable the negotiations to resume to the formal level.
Furthermore, as peace advocates you call for goodwill and confidence-building measures such as (1) the release of NDFP consultants who were unjustly arrested and detained on trumped-up charges; and (2) the abolition of the NTF-ELCAC (created by Executive Order #70 in 2018) which is behind the gravest violations of human and civil rights perpetrated by the police, military and paramilitary forces of the GRP. The NDFP fully supports these calls.
We look forward to our continued working together for a just and lasting peace in the Philippines.
Once again, we thank you for all the work and efforts you have done. We are, and always will be, committed to work for a just and lasting peace. A peace that addresses the roots of the armed conflict.
