COTABATO CITY – Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Spokesperson Atty. Naguib Sinarimbo said the regional government welcomes the Senate’s decision favoring the granting of amnesty by President Rodrigo Duterte to the members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
During its session on Monday, Jan. 24, all of the 18 senators present voted ‘Yes’ to adopt House Concurrent Resolution 12, which is in concurrence with Presidential Proclamation No.1090 s. 2021 granting amnesty to the MILF members.
“Under the Constitution, the power of the President to issue an amnesty will require concurrence of the Congress, and because we have a provision under the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) for such purpose, the national government complied to that in a form of a proclamation granting an amnesty”, said Sinarimbo in an interview Tuesday.
Sinarimbo said that the amnesty is a milestone that is very significant especially to the members of the MILF as “everyone knows that majority of the MILF members who fought against the government have incidentally committed violations to the law in pursuit of their political beliefs.”
“Since the national government recognized the legitimacy of their cause, we have this amnesty,” he added.
Section 4 of Proclamation No. 1090 states that the amnesty “shall extinguish any criminal liability for acts committed in pursuit of political beliefs, without prejudice to the grantee’s civil liability for injuries or damages caused to private persons whose right to be indemnified is fully recognized therein. The grant of amnesty shall also effect the restoration of civil or political rights suspended or lost by virtue of criminal conviction.”
[Read Proclamation No. 1090 here]Sinarimbo further explained that the amnesty “will not cover personal offenses of individual that have nothing to do with their political pursuit as recognized by law. Amnesty will only cover those legitimate offenses like possession of firearms which is a natural consequence.” (Abdullah Matucan/BIO)
