Senator Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa is pushing for ample budgetary support for the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) and the National Amnesty Commission(NAC) to ensure the full reintegration of former rebels to the communities.
Dela Rosa stressed this during the Senate plenary deliberations on the proposed P6.352 trillion national budget for 2025 as he defended the allocations for both agencies.
Under the Senate's version of the 2025 General Appropriations Bill (GAB), the OPAPRU was given P7.094 billion. Of the said amount, over P5 billion was allocated for its PAyapa at MAsaganang PamayaNAn (PAMANA) projects.
Amid concerns on PAMANA's supposed overlap with the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict's (NTF-ELCAC) Barangay Development Program (BDP), Dela Rosa explained the need to support the budgetary need of OPAPRU's program as the infrastructure projects under this are implemented at the municipal or provincial level.
Unlike the NTF-ELCAC's BDP which only caters to former rebels from the New People's Army (NPA), Dela Rosa said the PAMANA program benefits all ex-combatants such as those from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front.
According to Dela Rosa, the budget sponsor of the OPAPRU, the program covers social protection projects, roads and bridges, water supply systems, flood control systems, evacuation centers, and fish ports in 13 regions, 31 provinces and 38 municipalities.
Dela Rosa assured the Senate that the OPAPRU manages the funds intended for the PAMANA infrastructure projects and it has a high 90.15% disbursement rate for this program.
Meanwhile, OPAPRU was commended for its P50,000 per year educational assistance to the children of decommissioned MILF combatants in Marawi City and for its establishment of over 200 modified shelter units for ex-militants of the MNLF.
Dela Rosa, a staunch advocate of ex-rebels' reintegration to society, also defended the budget of the NAC which was allocated with P144.383 million under the Senate's version of the GAB.
"We are optimistic that we will reach our target with the caveat that the 10 additional local amnesty boards will be established as soon as possible," Dela Rosa said.
"We are expecting, with the 2-year [application period], around 40,000 decommissioned combatants from MILF, 2,000 from MNLF, 1,200 from RPA-ABB, 39,000 plus from CPP-NPA-NDF," he added.
Currently, there are nine local amnesty boards which are located in the National Capital Region, Bacolod City, Iloilo City, Cagayan De Oro, Cotabato City, Pagadian City, Davao City, Basilan, and Sulu.
Since the NAC started receiving applications on March 13 this year, Dela Rosa said a total of 1,559 former rebels have already applied for amnesty.