The government’s primary anti-communist task force “strongly” recommended the granting of amnesty to communist rebels who will return to the folds of the law supposedly to prevent the resurgence of communist rebellion that has hounded the country for more than five decades already.
Top officials of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) of the present administration held its first ever executive meeting on Friday, July 15, and among the things they agreed upon was the granting of amnesty to rebel warriors.
“The task force strongly recommends the need for offering an amnesty to prevent the resurgence of the communist terrorist group (CTG) especially in geographically challenged, isolated, and disadvantaged areas,” said National Security Adviser (NSA) Clarita Carlos, who also serves as the vice chairman of the NTF-ELCAC.
The move is set to be presented to Pres. Ferdinand Marcos “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. for his approval but further details of the plan are yet to be thoroughly discussed by the task force.
However, Carlos noted that it will be part of the task force’s efforts “to ensure peace and development for all Filipinos” under Marcos’ administration.
The NTF-ELCAC Executive Committee also reaffirmed the importance of a “whole of nation” approach in tackling the root causes of the armed conflict.
“We recommend the further commitment to implement and enhance the programs pf the NTF-ELCAC’s various clusters in public services, empowering local governments, strengthening partnerships with stakeholders, ensuring peace and law enforcement in the communities, providing tailored assistance to former rebels and former violent extremists, and work towards genuine healing and reconciliation,” Carlos stated.
Meanwhile, peace negotiations with top communist leader Jose Maria “Joma” Sison and other ranking officials of the Communist Party of the Philippines - New People’s Army - National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) are no longer proposed by the NTF-ELCAC.
Sison founded the CPP on December 26, 1968 and has since led the communist rebellion in the Philippines. He has been in self-exile in The Netherlands since 1987.
Instead, the task force recommended the continuation of localized peace talks where government forces forge pacts with left-wing groups which are the ones operating on the ground.
Aside from Carlos, the meeting was attended by Gen. Andres Centino, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff; Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr., Presidential Peace Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (PAPRU); Chairman Allen Capuyen, of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP); and Police Lt. Gen. Vicente Danao, Officer in Charge of the Philippine National Police (PNP).
Also present were Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya, of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG); Asst. Solicitor General Angelita Miranda, of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG); Ret. Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Salamat, Executive Director-Designate of the NTF-ELCAC Secretariat; and other directors and officials from the Department of National Defense (DND), AFP, and PNP.