Amnesty body receives 578 applications

MANILA, Philippines — Up to 578 applications for amnesty have been received by the National Amnesty Commission (NAC) through the nine local amnesty boards as of July 12.

A majority, or 497, of the applicants are former communist insurgents.

The rest are former members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) with 46, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) with 33 and Alex Boncayao Brigade (ABB) with two.

The granting of amnesty to former communist insurgents is provided uncer Proclamation 404 signed by President Marcos.

Meanwhile, the granting of amnesty to former members of the ABB, MILF and MNLF is provided under Proclamations 403, 405 and 406, respectively.

The proclamations, issued on Nov. 23, 2023, gave these groups two years to apply for amnesty.

The applications are filed with local amnesty boards, which handle the initial processing.

The NAC is currently setting up 10 more local amnesty boards in different cities and provinces to encourage more rebels to return to the fold of the law.

It said it would issue provisional safe conduct passes for the applicants.

All information provided by amnesty applicants in their documents will be evaluated by the NAC and local amnesty boards to determine the merit of their applications.

After the evaluation, the NAC recommends to Marcos the grant of amnesty to applicants.

The amnesty body committed to ensure a fair and inexpensive process in evaluating the applications.