Manila hopeful reopening talks with MILF, leftist rebels next month

MANILA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Philippine Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Annabelle T. Abaya said on Wednesday that the government is hopeful of reopening the long-stalled peace talks with Muslim and leftist rebels next month.

"It would be a wonderful blessing to be able to give our people the gift of hope, the gift of peace this Christmas," Abaya told reporters.

"God willing, we might re-open the peace talks in our two biggest negotiation front by December," Abaya said.

She admitted that her new job with only eight months remaining in the Arroyo administration is gargantuan.

"We must make quick but significant wins to the finish line," Abaya said, adding that when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo "called me, her message was, there is so much to do. We must hit the ground running."

She said the prospects for the resumption of formal peace talks are bright because "on the first day of my job, I was informed that the National Democratic Front (NDF) is very open and hopeful" on the resumption of the peace process.

Abaya also said that on the second day of her work, Ambassador Rafael Seguis informed her that the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) signed an agreement on the third of three confidence-building measures that ensures the protection of civilians in armed conflict areas in Mindanao.

Peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) bogged down in 2005 after the United States and the European Union (EU) tagged the New People's Army (NPA), the armed wing of the CPP and NDF as a terrorist group, while peace negotiations with the MILF collapsed in August 2008 after the two sides failed to sign an agreement on ancestral domain, prompting some rebel commanders to launch deadly attacks on Christian communities in Mindanao.

Ancestral domain refers to the MILF's demand for territory that will constitute a Muslim homeland.