KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/22 Dec ) – Only 344 of the 40,000-strong Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), or a dismal 0.86 percent, have applied for amnesty, data from the National Amnesty Commission (NAC) showed.
NAC Commissioner Atty. Jamar Kulayan provided the data, which also revealed that 241 members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), 1,061 former members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) and their front organizations, and 19 from the Rebolusyonaryong Partidong Manggagawa ng Pilipinas/Revolutionary Proletarian Army/Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPM-P/RPA/ABB) filed their applications for amnesty.
As of December 18, Kulayan said a total of 1,665 individuals from the MILF, MNLF, CPP-NPA-NDF, and the RPM-P/RPA/ABB have applied for amnesty.
Of this number, 1,260 are for verification, 331 for conference, 33 for resolution and 41 for NAC’s review, he added.
“I urge former rebels to take advantage of the amnesty program … Yung mga basic na pangangailangan ng isang rebelde ay kayang sagutin ng amnesty program na hindi kaya ng ibang programa,” Kulayan was quoted as saying in an infographics released last Wednesday by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU).
Undersecretary Wilben Mayor, Presidential Assistant for Local Conflict Transformation at OPAPRU, also called on former rebels to apply for amnesty.
“Isa sa pinakamagandang regalo ng ating pamahalaan ngayon ay ang amnesty program. Sa pamamagitan ng amnesty, it will restore all your political and civil rights,” he said.
Mayor said that amnesty is one of the mechanisms to transform or restore the lives of the former combatants into productive members of mainstream society.
In November 2023, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued Proclamation Nos. 405 and 406 granting amnesty to MILF and MNLF members, respectively, in line with the normalization track of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).
The government and the MILF signed the CAB in 2014 after 17 years of peace negotiations.
In an earlier statement, MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim said granting amnesty to former MILF combatants will allow them “to get a new lease in life and seize the opportunity for healing and reconciliation.”
The Philippine government, under the CAB’s Annex on Normalization, committed to employ the mechanism of amnesty, pardon, as well other processes that may be available for the resolution of cases of persons charged with or convicted of crimes and offenses connected to the armed conflict in Mindanao, the Presidential Communications Office said.
“As a party to the peace pact with the GPH (Government of the Philippines), our priority is to ensure that the agreements in the CAB are mutually honored, substantially implemented, and timely completed,” Ebrahim said, adding that all the components of the normalization must progress in parallel and commensurate with each other.
The peace panels, among other mechanisms of the GPH-MILF peace process, will remain until the Exit Agreement is signed. The Exit Agreement is to be signed at the end of the transition period. The GPH and MILF peace panels are expected to meet along with third party facilitator Malaysia, and the Third Party Monitoring Team (TPMT) to review, assess or evaluate the implementation of all agreements and the progress of the transition.
Ebrahim, also the interim Chief Minister of the Bangsamoro government, said Marcos’s amnesty proclamation is in line with his administration’s “peace, reconciliation, and unity policy.”
Kulayan earlier said that ex-combatants may apply for amnesty with the Local Amnesty Boards (LABs) established in various parts of the Philippines.
In Mindanao, the LABs are in the cities of Cotabato, Cagayan de Oro, Pagadian, Davao, and Isabela, including Sulu province.
Kulayan said the applicants may apply until March 4, 2026, exactly two years after the Senate adopted the proclamations, “following a series of rigorous interpellations, before the body’s 63rd plenary session” on March 4 this year, a report from the Bangsamoro Information Office said.
The NAC’s Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) was adopted only last March 14.
NAC chair Atty. Leah Tanodra-Armamento said those who are eligible to apply for amnesty under the existing proclamations are individual members of the MNLF or MILF who have committed the enumerated crimes defined under the Revised Penal Code or Special laws, in furtherance of their political beliefs.
“Amnesty is granted to a person, not to an association because a criminal act is personal. An association cannot commit a crime, thus even a corporation which is a juridical person is not liable for the criminal acts. Instead, it is the natural persons behind the corporation that are liable for the crime committed,” she said.
The amnesty is granted to former rebels who have committed crimes in pursuit of their political beliefs including but not limited to rebellion or insurrection, sedition, illegal assembly, direct and indirect assault, resistance and disobedience to a person in authority, and illegal possession of firearms, ammunition, or explosives.
However, there are exceptions.
The amnesty shall not cover kidnap for ransom, massacre, rape, terrorism, crimes committed against chastity as defined in the Revised Penal Code, violation of RA No. 9165, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, grave violations of the Geneva Convention of 1949, and genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture, enforced disappearances, and other gross violations of human rights, the Presidential Communications Office said. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
