MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The Philippine government is expecting the leftist rebels to respect the seven-day truce with the military and the police.

"We expect them to observe the ceasefire in good faith in as much as the Armed Forces of the Philippines will be observing it as well," Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in Tuesday' s news briefing.

The ceasefire will formally start Tuesday.

Lacierda is hoping that members of the New People's Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front (CPP-NDF), will honor the pronouncement of their leaders. Leaders of the CPP-NDF are in Oslo this week, conducting peace talks with the representatives of the Philippine government.

The NDF, through its Peace Negotiating Panel, is demanding the immediate and unconditional release of Alan Jazmines who was arrested Monday.

According to Luis Jalandoni, chairperson of the NDF peace panel, Jazmines is covered by protection of the Joint Agreement on Security and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG). He is a holder of a document of identification (DI) in accordance with the JASIG. He has worked as NDF consultant to the peace talks for the past few years.

Jalandoni said Jasminez's arrest is attempt by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police to disrupt the peace negotiations.

"It is imperative that Jazmines be released immediately and unconditionally, so that there will be no disruption of the formal peace talks. Jazmines must be available to participate in the next round of formal peace talks," Jalandoni said in a statement.

Lacierda said if Jazmines is really covered by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantee (JASIG), the talks in Oslo is the right venue for the NDF to raise the issue. He said that when Jazmines was arrested, he failed to present any document that could prove that he is covered by the JASIG.

"We would expect that the NDF panel will raise the arrest of Allan as an issue. It will be a good means to verify his name under the JASIG agreement," Lacierda said.

The peace negotiation between the government and the NDF has been stalled since 2005 after the CPP-NPA-NDF was included in the list of terrorist organizations by the Untied States and the European Union.