The government is eyeing around 1,800 communist rebels who may avail of the government’s amnesty program, according to National Security Adviser Eduardo Año on Wednesday.
Año said that the high-ranking officials of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, New People’s Army may avail of the amnesty program should they decide to return to the folds of the law.
“There are a lot of rebels in the mountains na you know [may] worries or agam agam dahil papano na yung kaso nila? (those who worry about their cases),” Año said in a chance interview shortly after the post-State of the Nation Address forum held in Pasay City.
Año said the amnesty will provide a clean slate to former combatants who wish to renew their lives.
However, Año said that senior NPA officials convicted of “heinous” crimes cannot avail of the amnesty.
“Different siya. Pwede silang papasok sa pardon o ‘yung sa parole o pardon, depende na ‘yan sa Presidente (it would be a different case. They can avail of a pardon or parole, depending on the President’s decision),” he said.
Th amnesty will be extended to those with pending cases but are not yet convicted.
“Right now we are placing the strength of the CPP-NPA at 1,800. So more or less, that’s our target,” Año said, noting that former rebels who have availed of the government’s Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program or E-CLIP and Barangay Development Program can avail of the amnesty.
Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesperson Col. Medel Aguilar, earlier said only three guerrilla fronts of the CPP-NPA are active while the other 18 are already weakened, out of the remaining 21.
Aguilar noted that the members of the CPP-NPA-NDF have been “tremendously reduced” to around 1,800 members—from a peak of 24,000 rebels in the mid-’80s.
AFP units have already neutralized 9,818 NPA rebels, of which 358 served as key leaders, with 11,013 firearms recovered from the insurgents, according to the spokesperson.