Ex-rebels get conduct passes as prelude to amnesty

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Former rebels, among Bangsamoro regional officials, got safe conduct passes from the National Amnesty Commission that they need to freely move around while securing exoneration from criminal liabilities as erstwhile enemies of state.

The symbolic grant of safe conduct passes at a function facility in Cotabato City on Wednesday, June 11, was jointly facilitated by the lawyers Leah Tanodra-Armamento and Jamar Kualayan, chairperson and commissioner of the National Amnesty Commission, respectively.

Bangsamoro Chief Minister Abdulrauf Macacua, Brig. Gen. Romeo Juan Macapaz, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, representatives from the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, the prosecutor for Region 12, Mariam Veloso Mastura, were present in the event.

Tanodra-Armamento, Kulayan and two other NAC officials, Mohammad Jamalul Giducos and Ser-me Ayuyao, took turns explaining to reporters the modalities of the commission’s grant of safe conduct passes, or SCPs, to qualified beneficiaries to enable them to work out their applications for amnesty without fear of arrest and detention either by the police, or the military.

“Our office is open to all those who wish to secure safe conduct passes,” Tanodra-Armamento said.

Among the recipients of SCPs during Wednesday’s symbolic rite in Cotabato City were ranking officials of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front who are now members of the 80-seat parliament, among them the Yakan Dan Asnawi, the Maguindaons Ali Solaiman and Jack Abas, and a couple from an ethnic Manobo community in Kalamansig town in Sultan Kudarat.

It was President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who authorized the NAC to issue SCPs to amnesty applicants during his visit last April 11 to the headquarters of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division at Camp Siongco in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte.

He then signed a decree for the NAC to grant SCPs to former rebels in the presence of reporters and representatives from the MILF and the Moro National Liberation Front, which have separate peace agreements with the national government.