MANILA, Philippines -- Religious leaders called on the government to resume peace talks with communist rebels instead of being preoccupied with airing allegations of supposed destabilization plots.

At a press conference Tuesday, the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP) said that rather than deal with rumors of destabilization the government would resolve more problems by sitting down with the communists again for peace talks.

The PEPP is composed of representatives from the Catholic Bishops? Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, Association of Major Religious Superiors of Men and Women in the Philippines (AMRSP), and the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC).

The NCCP represents the largest group of non-Roman Catholic churches in the Philippines while the PCEC is the largest network of evangelicals and mission groups.

?Tingnan na muna natin kung totoo ang mga bali-balitang destabilisasyon na ito. Kung hindi naman totoo, huwag na natin ito pansinin at magpatuloy na lamang tayo sa buhay natin, katulad ng pagre-resume ng peace talks [Let us first see if these talks of destabilization are true. If not, let us just ignore them and move forward, like resuming the peace talks],? AMRSP co-chairperson Sr. Mary John Mananzan.

The PEPP said the immediate resumption of the peace talks will allow both parties to talk about their issues.

?We?d like to see peace talks resume immediately without preconditions and in accordance with all prior agreements,? said Cagayan de Oro Archbishop Antonio Ledesma.

He added it is important that both sides build on what they have agreed on in the past so there is continuity in the talks.

The Communist Party of the Philippines?New People?s Army (CPP-NPA), has been tagged by the police and the military as one of the groups allegedly involved in recent destabilization plots.

But Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez, co-chairperson of the Ecumenical Bishops Forum, said government suspicions that the communists are behind destabilization plots make it all the more urgent to resume peace talks.

?This is one of the issues that need to be addressed in the peace talks but there has to be sincerity on both sides of the negotiation table to have a fruitful result,? said Iñiguez.

Peace talks with the communists have been suspended in 2004 after government failed to act on the National Democratic Front?s demand to work for the removal of the rebels from the terrorist lists of the United States and European Union, among others.