100 days of Marcos Jr.: still no National Amnesty Commission

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 08 October)  — After 100 days in office, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has yet to name the seven-member National Amnesty Commission (NAC) which is tasked to receive and process applications of former Moro and communist rebels for amnesty. 

The NAC is also tasked to determine whether the applicants are entitled to amnesty under Proclamation numbers 1090, 1091, 1092 and 1093. 

The four proclamations, all issued on February 5, 2021 by then President Rodrigo Duterte, grant amnesty to members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (Proclamation 1090), Moro National Liberation Front (1091), the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa – Pilipinas/Revolutionary Proletarian Army/Alex Boncayao Brigade (1092) and the “communist terrorist group” (1093), “who have committed crimes in pursuit of their political beliefs, whether punishable under the Revised Penal Code or special penal laws” such as rebellion or insurrection, conspiracy and proposal to commit rebellion or insurrection, among others. 

^{Executive Order 125 creating the National Amnesty Commission was issued on 5 February 2021. Then President Rodrigo Duterte stepped down on June 30, 2022 without constituting the Commission. President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has yet to name members of the Commission.}

On the same day the Proclamations were issued, Duterte also issued Executive Order 125 creating the NAC. 

According to the EO, the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) covering the amnesty program shall be issued by the NAC “not later than 60 days upon the effectivity of this Proclamation.”

The Proclamations took effect on January 24, 2022 when the Senate concurred, several months after the House of Representatives did. The IRR should have been issued not later than March 24, 2022. But Duterte did not constitute the NAC and his successor, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., has not appointed anyone to the nine-member NAC. 

The EO also provides that applications for the grant of amnesty under the four Proclamations shall be filed within one year from the effectivity of the Proclamations. 

Without the NAC, no IRR can be issued. 

The seven-member NAC shall have a chair and two regular members to be appointed by the President. The four others are ex-officio members – the Justice Secretary, Defense Secretary, Local Governments Secretary and the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity

The Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU), according to EO 125, is the Commission’s secretariat. 

Despite the absence of the NAC,  the Action for Advancement and Development of Mindanao (AFADMin, Inc.) ), a Cotabato City-based Moro youth-led organization submitted to the MILF’s Peace Implementing Panel on October 4 in Cotabato City, a total of 523 application folders for amnesty, mostly from within the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (see other story). 

The applicants filled out forms  “that contain validation from the chain of commands of the MILF. This is for purposes of making sure that only bona fide members can be granted under 1090,” the AFADMIN said in an e-mailed reply to MindaNews’ queries. 

The folders were turned over to the MILF Peace Implementing Panel “for further processing” and later for submission to the NAC.  (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)