Malacañang yesterday told the National Democratic Front to drop its demand that the government release 14 jailed communist leaders as precondition to the resumption of the peace talks.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said in a press briefing that it is unfortunate that the NDF “made a 180 degree turn on the requirements for the resumption of peace talks,” a Malacañang press release said.

He said the Executive Department cannot take it upon itself to quash the warrants of arrest. The 14 jailed communist leaders, he added, committed crimes punishable under the revised penal code.

“We have to follow the rule of law. That is what we told them. They said they might just as well wait for the next administration. I wonder if the next administration will ever agree to take action that will quash the warrant of arrest just like in this particular case,” Ermita said in the press release.

Despite the setback in the peace talks with the NDF, Ermita pointed out, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is determined to continue the peace process.

NDF is the political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New Peoples' Army.

The government panel has lifted the Joint Agreement on Security and Immunity Guarantee leading to the release from detention of two of NDF's consultants, the press release said.

Talks between the GRP and NDF collapsed in 2005 after the United States and the European Union tagged NPA as a terrorist organization, it added.*

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