As part of showing his administration’s sincere wish to a peaceful resolution of the problem of insurgency, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. has granted amnesty to former members of various rebel and insurgency groups.
Proclamations No. 403–406 extends this amnesty to former members of the Rebolusyong Partido ng Manggagawa ng Pilipinas/Revolutionary Proletarian Army/Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPMP-RPA-ABB); the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NFA-NDF); the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF); and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).
These include former rebels and insurgent groups who committed crimes because of their political beliefs, these includes, rebellion or insurrection; conspiracy and proposal to commit rebellion or insurrection; disloyalty of public officers or employees; inciting to rebellion or insurrection; sedition; conspiracy to commit sedition; inciting to sedition; illegal assembly; illegal association; direct assault; indirect assault; resistance and disobedience to a person in authority or the agents of such person; tumults and other disturbances of public order; unlawful use of means of publications and unlawful utterances; alarms and scandals; illegal possession of firearms, ammunition or explosives, provided that these crimes or offence were committed in furtherance of incident to, or in connection with the crimes, of rebellion or insurrection; and those charged, detained or convicted of common crimes but who can establish by substantial evidence that they have actually committed said crimes in pursuit of political beliefs.
On the other hand, amnesty does not cover crimes including kidnapping for ransom, massacre, rape, terrorism, crimes committed against chastity as defined under the revised penal code, crimes committed for personal ends, violations of the Dangerous Drugs Act, grave violations of the Geneva Convention of 1949, and crimes that are covered by the United Nations as subjects for not granting amnesty.
Recently, both the national government and the NDF have agreed to a “principled and peaceful resolution of the armed conflict," signaling a possible resumption of peace talks between the government and the Communist rebels during the first quarter of 2024.
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