Dureza announced the ceasefire, which took effect midnight Saturday, at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport where he called a press briefing before departing for the Oslo peace talks with the communist National Democratic Front. The NDF, for its part, also announced on Saturday the NPA would release more “prisoners of war” as another goodwill measure after five NPA captives were freed in Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur. PO1 Richard Vaz Yu of the PNP in Carmen, Surigao del Sur were abducted by the NDF’s armed wing, the New People’s Army in Brgy. “As we all know, in full support for the orderly and effective conduct of the peace negotiations, President Duterte has caused the unprecedented release from detention of 20 prisoners who are needed in the peace negotiations. As we speak, there is continuing effort to make available in the Oslo peace talks resumption as many of them as possible,” he said.

Source: The Standard August 20, 2016 16:18 UTC