• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
A total of 63 amnesty applications were received by the National Amnesty Commission (NAC) from former members of the defunct Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa-Pilipinas/Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPM-P/RPA-ABB) now known as the Kapatiran Para sa Progresong Panlipunan.
NAC said that it participated in the first intake activity with members of the Kapatiran in Tanjay City, Negros Oriental and in Sagay City, Negros Occidental last week.
The RPM-P/RPA-ABB entered into a peace agreement with the government in year 2000. It has about 700 members, majority of whom are in Negros Island.
Last year, the NAC’s Local Amnesty Board-Bacolod processed the amnesty papers of 210 former New People’s Army rebels in Negros, with assistance from the 79th, 62nd, 94th and 15th Infantry Battalions under the 302nd and 303rd Infantry Brigades of the Philippine Army.
According to the latest NAC tally, 1,546 of the applications were from former members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).
Meanwhile, 518 applications were also received from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and 297 from the Moro National Liberation Front.
The NAC is tasked to receive and process amnesty applications and determine whether the applicant is entitled to the presidential amnesty.
In November 2023, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued Executive Order No. 47, granting amnesty to former members of the CPP-NPA-NDF, RPA-ABB, and Muslim separatists, who have committed crimes punishable under the Revised Penal Code and Special Penal laws in furtherance of their political beliefs, among other offenses. | GB with PNA reports
