{UAH} History: The National Democratic Front – Philippines conflict ~ Ugandans At Heart (UAH)

Communist insurgency in the Philippines

For the past three decades, the Government of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front – Philippines (NDFP) have been engaging in on and off peace negotiations. Despite reiterated expressions of willingness to reach a negotiated settlement, deep ideological differences and mutual lack of trust make it difficult to compromise.

The New People's Army

The underground Communist Party of the Philippines created the New People's Army (NPA) in 1969 to fight a Maoist, nationalist and anti-imperialist revolution. The NDFP is the umbrella organisation representing several leftist organisations supporting the revolutionary struggle.

The NPA reached its peak activity in the 1980s, at the height of anti-Marcos mass mobilisations. The insurgents are still active across the country, especially in some of the Visaya islands and in northeastern Mindanao. Many consider the NDFP still to have the country's greatest capacity for mass mobilisations, and therefore significant social support.

Peace negotiations

Peace talks have been on and off since the fall of Marcos dictatorship in 1986. Key achievements so far have been the agreements of an agenda for negotiations (1992), and an agreement on the first point in the agenda: Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (1998).

There have not yet been any significant developments on the remaining issues in the agenda: social and economic reforms, political and constitutional reforms, and the end of hostilities and disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration.

Since 2001, Norway has been the facilitator of the peace talks between the Government and the NDFP. Civil society has increasingly been calling for resumption and completion of peace talks. But these peace efforts have not resulted in further agreements. Neither side has yet explicitly committed to a peaceful solution, which makes confidence building and compromise more difficult.

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