The Senate on Monday, March 4 adopted three concurrent resolutions favoring President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s grant of amnesty to various rebel and insurgent groups in the country.
The Senate’s concurrence happened less than three months after the President signed the presidential proclamations.
“The congressional concurrence to the presidential proclamations signifies the Filipino people’s support to the comprehensive peace efforts and genuine commitment of the government to attaining lasting peace,” Senator Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada said.
The measures will foster healing and social cohesion, and will provide the window to end internal armed conflict and rebellion, which have already cost the country a staggering amount of lost economic opportunities and the lives of countless Filipinos.
Those expected to avail of the amnesty are the 2,000 former members of the separatist group Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), 1,200 members from the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa ng Pilipinas/Revolutionary Proletarian Army/Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPMP-RPA-ABB), and 400 surrenderees from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Adopted during Monday’s plenary session were House Concurrent Resolutions No. 19, 21, and 22 concurring with Presidential Proclamations 403, 405, and 406 – the amnesty given to rebels from the RPMP-RPA-ABB, MILF, and MNLF respectively.
Estrada, chairman of the Senate Committee on National Defense and Security, explained that the amnesty is granted to rebels who have committed crimes in pursuit of their political beliefs.
The crimes include, but are 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.
Following the congressional concurrence to the said presidential proclamations, Estrada said the national defense and security panel and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) will facilitate a meeting on the status of the peace agreements.