Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda also said in a news briefing that the administration is not keen on drafting a new list of NDF members covered by the Jasig, to replace the old list contained in a diskette that could not be decrypted.

“We presume that there would be no preconditions to the agreement and now they are putting up a precondition of releasing all the consultants under the Jasig list,” Lacierda said.

When asked, Lacierda said it will be “foolhardy” for the government to consider a new Jasig list to replace the old one, even if the latter cannot be accessed. “It will be foolhardy for us to require them to put up a new Jasig list considering they can include anyone and say any person’s name on the new Jasig list,” he said.

Lacierda said the agreement between both sides was to put the names of NDF members covered by the Jasig in a “software,” and then placed in a vault overseen by a Dutch bishop in the Netherlands.

“The NDF decided to put it in a software—it’s not our fault that they cannot decrypt it…. They came up with a list which was faulty and eventually technology made advances which prevented them from decrypting their software—it’s not our fault. Again, they should not be made as part of a precondition to starting the peace talks,” he said.

Lacierda said the government peace panel, led by Undersecretary Alex Padilla, would discuss the matter with his NDF counterpart, Luis Jalandoni and NDF panel spokesman Fidel Agcaoili, who had said the formal talks set later this month may be delayed because of the continued detention of its consultants.

“We leave it to Undersecretary Alex Padilla to discuss it with Jalandoni and Agcaoili. I believe that both parties share the same aspirations for peace. It’s just the manner by which we try to achieve that resolution. So we leave it with Undersecretary Padilla to resolve the issue,” Lacierda said.