MALAYBALAY CITY (Bukidnon News/10 October 2024)—Eighty-three (83) former rebels in the province have applied to the national amnesty program, an official said.
Jose Regulus Ortega of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (OPAPRU) in Northern Mindanao said all of the 83 applied individually before the Local Amnesty Board based at 4th Infantry Division in Cagayan de Oro City. He said this during the Media and Public Information Officers Orientation and Workshop, Oct. 2.
The National Amnesty Commission (NAC), established on March 25, 1994 by then-President Fidel V. Ramos by Proclamation No. 347, is entrusted with receiving, processing, and reviewing amnesty applications before endorsement to the president for approval.
The Philippine Star quoted Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez Jr. to have said that the amnesty applications of over a thousand former rebels and Muslim combatants will be approved before the end of the year.
The grant of amnesty shall restore the grantee’s civil and political rights lost or suspended by virtue of conviction for crime/s covered, according to Proclamation No. 1377, September 06, 2007. (Contributed by Mel B. Madera)