MANILA, Philippines -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo?s standing order to crush the communist insurgency by 2010 will not run counter to the scheduled resumption of formal peace negotiations with the communist political arm, the National Democratic Front, next month, her peace adviser said.

?There?s no conflict here,? Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Avelino Razon Jr. told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net).

?We?re going after the NPA (New People?s Army, which is advocating the use of arms against the government,? he added.

The New People?s Army is the nearly 5,000-strong armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, which has been waging a Marxist rebellion for four decades now.

Its political wing, the NDF, is set to resume formal talks with the government in August after both parties agreed to relax on previous preconditions.

The government agreed to lift the suspension of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), which would allow rebels to freely move around and participate in the negotiations.

Razon pointed out that both the CPP and the NDF were ?legal? organizations.

?That?s why we are encouraging their members to participate in the parliamentary struggle, not in the armed struggle,? he said.

Anthony Golez, deputy presidential spokesperson, also expressed high hopes for the upcoming resumption of formal peace talks.

?The moment that groups in conflict sit down and talk, that will be the first step toward peace and we are hopeful that the problem will be resolved,? he said in an interview with the government-run Radyo ng Bayan.

From 2006 to 2008, Arroyo has been giving marching orders to both the police and the military to crush communist rebels, along with Moro secessionists and terrorists.

In 2006, she had vowed to ?break the back? of the communist insurgency by the end of her term in 2010.

?For the rest of my term, I hope I would be able to break the back of the insurgency and that we can have peace and stability,? she said in an interview in China.

?We have set 2010 as the deadline to win the war against insurgency and I congratulate your predecessors because as of last year, we have succeeded to cut in half the number of active insurgents compared to what they were in 2001,? she told graduates of the Philippine Military Academy in 2008.