GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 27 April) – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is supportive of moves to extend the amnesty program for another two years to allow more former rebels the chance to become mainstream members of society, officials said.
Undersecretary Ernesto Torres Jr., executive director of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), said that Marcos backed the proposal to extend the amnesty program until 2028 during the task force’s 9th Executive Committee Meeting held at Malacañang last April 22.
Torres noted the National Amnesty Commission (NAC) proposed the extension to accommodate the “growing number of applicants.”
“The proposal of the NAC is for the program to be extended for two years (until 2028), subject to the concurrence of Congress. It is very important to mention that the Executive Committee and the President have fully endorsed the extension,” he said in a statement on Friday.
Torres noted that the first two years of the amnesty program were largely spent on organizing the commission and establishing local boards, which “is why processing is only now gaining momentum.”
On November 22, 2023, Marcos 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 People’s Army – National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF), Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), respectively.
As contained under Section 19, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution, the President shall have the power to grant amnesty with the concurrence of the majority of members of Congress.
A total of 16,003 individuals across the country applied for amnesty that concluded last month, 6,330 or about 40 percent of whom are from Mindanao, followed by Luzon with 5,868 and Visayas with 3,805, NAC data showed.
Most of the applicants are from the CPP-NPA-NDF, with a total of 13,633, of which 4,689 were filed in Mindanao. On the other hand, the Mindanao-based MILF and MNLF logged 1,240 and 646 applications, respectively. Amnesty applications from members of the RPM-P/RPA-ABB reached 484. The applications were lodged before the NAC’s local amnesty boards (LABs) To date, Marcos granted amnesty only to 19 CPP-NPA-NDF and one MILF members.
NAC chairperson Atty. Leah Armamento has directed the LABs to continue accepting amnesty applications and label them “provisionally accepted” pending the President’s signature and the concurrence by a majority of all the members of Congress for the proposed two-year extension.
NAC Commissioner Atty. Jamar Kulayan told MindaNews on Monday that NTF-ELCAC proposed the extension of the amnesty program because of the number of surrenderees from the CPP-NPA-NDF.
“We (NAC) proposed to include the other rebel groups for fairness,” he said.
Kulayan said that amnesty restores the civil and political rights of grantees. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
