“On the peace process, the President acknowledged the joint statement of the GPH [Government of the Philippines] and NDF peace panels on the intent to resume formal peace talks,” Abella said. “To ensure that genuine peace talks are realized, the President asked both panels to agree on clear parameters for ceasefire and the talks,” he added. The government and NDF representatives on Saturday agreed to resume formal peace talks following the successful back-channel talks in Utrecht, the Netherlands. However, with the termination of the peace talks in February, we again felt the elusiveness of peace in our time,” it said. It is a crucial confidence building measure that will demonstrate concretely the significant gains of the peace talks.

Source: Manila Times March 14, 2017 16:18 UTC