Gov’t offers amnesty anew as ‘holiday gift’ for rebels

ILIGAN CITY — The government has urged active and former communist rebels to take advantage of its amnesty offer so they can restart life anew as peaceful and productive citizens.

“Isa sa pinakamagandang regalo ng ating pamahalaan ngayon ay ang amnesty [program]. Sa pamamagitan po ng amnesty, it will restore [all] your political and civil rights… ito ang nakikita natin na isang mekanismo para ang buhay ninyo ay mabago at mabalik sa dating pamumuhay,” said presidential assistant Wilben Mayor, spokesperson of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation (Opapru).

Mayor emphasized that if granted, amnesty can restore all suspended or lost civil and political rights resulting from a criminal conviction and eliminate all criminal liability for acts covered as some of the most significant impacts on former rebels.

Among the offenses covered under the program include rebellion or insurrection; conspiracy to commit rebellion; sedition; illegal possession of firearms, ammunition, or explosives; and relative crimes of rebellion, among others.

“To ensure the holistic transformation of former combatants, President Marcos Jr. underscored the importance of granting amnesty as a key component of these efforts,” Mayor said.

Earlier, Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez Jr. said the government’s amnesty program “is (its) best policy” for dealing with enemies of the state.

Based on the amnesty proclamations, the period for filing applications will close in the first quarter of 2026.

Going into the Christmas holiday, there are dim prospects for a ceasefire between government troops and communist rebels.

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro had ruled out a holiday truce, and so, too, did the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

In a statement last week, the CPP said it “cannot declare a holiday ceasefire in the face of the Marcos regime’s relentless war of suppression, offensive military operations and imposition of (virtual) martial law in the countryside.”

“In its desperation to crush the people’s resistance, the Armed Forces of the Philippines is presently undertaking military operations across the country against the Party and New People’s Army,” the CPP said.