MANILA, Aug. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- The Philippine government Thursday regretted the National Democratic Front (NDF) rebels' postponement of the next round of peace talks between the two sides.

    "It is unfortunate that the NDF panel sought to use the issue of CPP-NPA's listing as terrorist group by Europe and the United States as a barrier to the discussion of substantive concerns suchas socioeconomic reforms," said Silvestre Bello, chairman of the government panel with the NDF.

    The country cannot interfere with other countries' foreign policy decisions even if it involves local groups, Bello said, reacting to a statement made by NDF leaders that the terrorist tagused by the United States on the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing New People's Army (NPA) wouldderail the resumption of the Oslo talks.

    He reminded the NDF panel that by participating in the peace talks, it can better convince the world that the NDF is sincere inworking for peace, rather than terrorism.

    Bello said the government is prepared to report on the confidence building measures that the panels agreed to address in the previous meeting in June 2004, thus, the decision to postpone the peace talks "to give time to the Philippine panel to comply with its commitments is without basis."

    "The prospective talks this August would have tackled issues related to socioeconomic reforms and the accomplishments of the Joint Monitoring Committee. The new round of talks is expected to generate measures that would address the root cause of the insurgency problem," Bello said.

    He added that the government remains hopeful that the NDF panelwould renew its commitment to "just and lasting peace" by sitting down for peace negotiations once more.

    Luis Jalandoni, NDF chief negotiator, said Wednesday said his panel had called for the postponement of the talks set on Aug. 24-30 because of the renewed terror tag on CPP-NPA.

    CPP founder Jose Maria Sison, on the other hand, said the government has yet to fulfill two of its "obligations" to the NDF -- the release of political prisoners and the indemnification of human rights victims -- before negotiations resume.

    Likewise, the NDF said the Philippine government should give a definite position on the issue before the scheduled peace talks inOslo, Norway.

    On Monday in Washington, US Secretary of State Colin Powell issued a public notice, renewing its classification of the CPP-NPAas a foreign terrorist organization, based on a review of records and in consultation with the attorney general and the secretary ofthe treasury. Enditem