NDF 'growing impatient' over delay in release of political detainees

National Democratic Front (NDF) peace negotiators are growing impatient over the alleged slow action of the government on its promise to release political prisoners from detention.

In a statement Wednesday, the NDF said "there is now growing uneasiness and impatience among the NDF delegation over the snail's pace in the steps being taken to effect the release of the remaining political prisoners despite repeated promises and assurances coming from the GRP panel."

The statement was released following the conclusion of the second round of peace negotiations in Oslo, Norway. The NDF said the round "ended with some progress but uncertainties remain."

The communist-led NDF said over 400 political prisoners are still languishing in various jails across the Philippines.

"So far, the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) has released only 22 political prisoners, most of them NDF consultants," it said, adding the government has not released any political prisoners since August.

NDF chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison and NDF panel chair Fidel Agcaoili have served notice to the government panel that failing to release the political prisoners will have "serious consequences in the continuation of the current ceasefire and forward movement in the peace negotiations as a whole."

The NDF said it also received reports of continuous military operations in the territory of its armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA), despite the declaration of ceasefire by both sides.

Citing reports from NPA commands, the NDF said that some units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) have been conducting counter-insurgency operations, and have allegedly been telling civilians that the ceasefire is no longer in effect.

The next round of peace negotiations is set on January 2017 in a still unidentified foreign and neutral venue. —Jessica Bartolome/KBK, GMA News