Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Tuesday appointed three members to the government's peace negotiating team with Muslim separatist rebels, reported dpa.
Arroyo named the head of the panel on December 1 in a first step towards resuming stalled peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Presidential peace adviser Hermogenes Esperon said one more member would be added to the team.
Esperon said the appointments were in line with Arroyo's announcement that her administration was committed to holding peace talks with the MILF.
"We are assembling the pieces to get the peace process started again in a way that upholds our commitment to peace, to the strong sentiments of communities and to the rule of law," he said.
Esperon said the government would also form teams to monitor the security and economic situation in the southern region of Mindanao, as well as an advisory group on disarming the MILF members.
Arroyo dissolved the government panel negotiating with the MILF on September 3 after the guerrillas launched a series of deadly attacks in Mindanao, triggering fierce fighting with the military.
More than 200 people, including civilians, were killed in the rebel attacks and subsequent fighting. More than 500,000 people were also displaced at the height of the hostilities.
The MILF launched the attacks to protest a Supreme Court order stopping the signing of a key agreement that would have expanded an existing autonomous Muslim region in Mindanao.
Arroyo has since scrapped the ancestral domain deal, and the high tribunal has declared it unconstitutional.
The MILF, the largest Muslim rebel group fighting for a separate Islamic state in Mindanao since 1978, welcomed the government's moves to restart the peace talks.
But MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal urged the Arroyo administration to reconsider its position on the ancestral domain deal.
"Our position has not changed," he said. "We will only negotiate with the government if we are going to sign the agreement on ancestral domain. It's the solution to our problem, nothing else."