(CNN Philippines) — A House resolution seeks the revival of the peace talks between the government and the communist National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), almost four years after formal negotiations were stalled in 2011.
In a statement issued on Wednesday (April 8), the House of Representatives said that House Resolution 1927 will direct the Special Committee on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity “to study the possible revival of the peace talks” with the Communist Party of the Philippines’ (CPP) political arm.
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Rep. Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City authored the resolution, with his brother, Rep. Maximo Rodriguez Jr. of the ABAMIN partylist group, as co-author.
Formal talks reached an impasse after the NDFP postponed the scheduled meetings in June 2011, refusing to continue unless the Philippine government would release its captured consultants.
Prior to that, talks were also stymied for almost seven years when the NDFP withdrew from the negotiating table in 2004 after the renewed inclusion of CPP founder Jose Maria Sison and the CPP-New People’s Army (NPA) in the U.S. terrorist list.
In filing the resolution, the Rodriguez brothers cited a statement by Secretary Teresita Deles, the presidential adviser on the peace process, that both parties were “amenable to returning to the negotiating table.”
