ABS-CBN News
Posted at Feb 23 2017 04:28 PM | Updated as of Feb 23 2017 04:49 PM

 (See video at http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/02/23/17/ndfp-consultant-peace-talks-still-on-duterte-admin-shows-positive-signs )

MANILA- As far as the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) is concerned, the peace talks are still on.
NDFP consultant Rey Casambre said despite the pronouncements of President Rodrigo Duterte, talks are still on since there are certain protocols that have to be met before the talks can be terminated.

“As far as the NDFP is concerned, the talks have not been cancelled or terminated. There are certain protocols, certain requirements before the talks or peace negotiations can be said to be terminated,” Casambre said in an interview on “Mornings@ANC.”

Casambre added that the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) is also still in effect since they have not received any written notice of termination.
Earlier this month, Duterte announced the termination of the peace talks following a series of armed clashes between soldiers and rebel forces.

Duterte also called on communist leaders that were temporarily freed to participate in the talks to go home and return to prison.

Casambre said the “aggressive language” of President Duterte is nothing new and added that they have seen “very positive signals” from the government in recent days.

“There are still exchanges of ideas and comments and in fact, recently, we’ve seen very positive signals from Duterte and Dureza,” he said.

Scheduled talks between the communist movement and the government panel were supposed to start on Wednesday.

Despite the tension between the two panels, Casambre said he remains hopeful that peace talks would soon resume as well as talks for a bilateral ceasefire.

“It’s just a matter of time I think. The channels are open for them to be able to set these meeting and finally hammer out not only the bilateral ceasefire but how to proceed with the fourth round of talks,” Casambre said.