MAKATI CITY (MindaNews / 23 November) – At least 800 members of the erstwhile rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have so far applied for amnesty with the deadline for application just less than four months away, government officials said.
Undersecretary Cesar Yano, chair of the government’s peace implementing panel with the MILF, told an international peace conference here that only 807 MILF members have filed their applications with the National Amnesty Commission (NAC).
“We are happy with the MILF leadership for submitting their personnel to apply in this amnesty program of the government,” Yano told participants of the conference themed “After the Peace Agreements: The Bangsamoro and Beyond” organized by the Cotabato City-based think tank Institute for Autonomy and Governance on November 18-19.
But only 89 out of the 26,145 decommissioned MILF fighters, have applied for amnesty, NAC Commissioner Jamar Kulayan told MindaNews at the sidelines of the conference.
He attributed the low application to misconceptions, among them, that amnesty will not be beneficial to them, especially to the older combatants.
“Amnesty restores (the former combatants’) civil and political rights, which to many of them seem like an abstract idea,” Kulayan, said in mixed English and Filipino.
Of 40,000 MILF combatants, only 26,145 fighters or 65% have been decommissioned. Decommissioning is part of the Annex on Normalization of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, which the Philippine government and the MILF signed in 2014 after 17 years of peace negotiations.
Yano noted that the amnesty program is part of the Marcos administration’s confidence-building measures with the MILF, which still has 14,000 combatants who have yet to be decommissioned.
On November 22, 2023, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued Proclamation Nos. 403, 404, 405, and 406 granting amnesty to members of the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa ng Pilipinas/Revolutionary Proletarian Army/Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPMP-RPA-ABB), Communist Party of the Philippines-New Peoples Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF), MILF and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), respectively.
Kulayan said Marcos has so far granted amnesty to nine individuals, one of whom is MILF commander Jannati Mimbantas, also known as Basit Abas who is now serving as a member of the Bangsamoro Parliament.
Kulayan said the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Unity and Reconciliation (OPAPRU) was targeting 1,005 MILF members to apply for amnesty “without prejudice to the decommissioning of its combatants.”
He added that the MILF members who applied for amnesty is now beyond 50 percent vis-à-vis the 1,005 target of the OPAPRU.
Kulayan urged those with cases related to the Bangsamoro armed struggle, as well as those engaged in the communist rebellion, to apply for amnesty so that their civil and political rights can be restored.
He said the deadline for amnesty application for MILF, MNLF and RPMP-RPA-ABB is on March 4, and March 13 for the CPP-NPA-NDF. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
