National Security Adviser, Secretary Eduardo Año, on Wednesday, said the request of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front of the Philippines, to remove the terrorist designation among their ranks should undergo the process of peace settlement.

"May process iyan. Hindi iyan basta-basta pwedeng matanggal. Siyempre, ang kalakaran ng peace settlement iyong talagang agree na sila na to abandon the armed struggle. Madali na lahat yan yung pagtanggal ng designation (It has a process and cannot be done indiscriminately. Of course, in a peace settlement, they should really agree to abandoning the armed struggle. The removal of the designation would be easy)," Año told reporters. 

Año noted that it would be hard to grant them their request sans the final peace settlement with the communist group. 

He said the other party should be willing to abandon the armed struggle. 

"If that's their mindset and if they are sincere, then the negotiation will come into place then it's like a one-time processing of amnesty and final peace settlement—all of that will be granted," Año stressed. 

"We don't want a repeat of the past that they have so many demands even if the talks have not yet started," he said, adding that there were cases where some of them were released but later on returned to the insurgency.

The CPP-NPA-NDFP earlier urged President Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr. to rescind the "terrorist designation" on them, following the  President's approval of amnesty to rebels and the announcement of possible exploratory talks.

The communist rebels also want Marcos to release more than 800 "political prisoners."

Año referred the communists' request for the release of their consultants to the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity to negotiate the matter with the NDFP.

"The joint communique has the intention to negotiate and discuss how to have the peaceful settlement of this conflict so dun lang muna (stay there first)," he said. 

The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

The ATC also formally designated the NDFP as a terrorist organization on 23 June 2021, citing it as "an integral and inseparable part" of the CPP-NPA that was created in April 1973.