The government (GPH) is still committed to giving an amnesty proclamation for the National Democratic Front (NDF), a GRP panel member said.
GRP panel member Angela Librado-Trinidad pointed out the efforts exerted by the government in complying with the peace process to the House of Representatives.
Librado-Trinidad highlighted that both GPH and NDF agreed in their joint statements previous rounds of negotiations that President Rodrigo Duterte will release the detainees based on humanitarian grounds and promulgation of amnesty proclamation as per GPH panel recommendation.
“The GRP made the initiatives after the first round of talks last August. We amended the guidelines of the Presidential Committee on Bail, Recognizance, and Pardon (PCBReP), which will be the platform for the release of detainees based on humanitarian grounds,” Librado-Trinidad explained, adding that the GRP panel has already drafted the amnesty proclamation and submitted it to the President last September.
PCBReP’s new guidelines will cover the commission of the crime that took place on or before July 1 this year while the amnesty proclamation is already being reviewed by the Office of the President.
Librado-Trinidad added that the legislators are already updated on the status of the prisoners to be released based on humanitarian grounds.
“When we say humanitarian grounds, these are prisoners who are categorized either as sickly, elderly or those who have been detained for an extended period, and women,” she clarified.
Librado-Trinidad added that all the panels have been collating all the information on the said effort so that more prisoners will be released before we resume their talks in January next year.
Last December 2, President Duterte granted a presidential pardon to four communist rebels convicted of murder and kidnapping who have long been recommended for release but not acted upon by the previous administration.
“President Duterte never abandons his position that he will grant amnesty and on the liberation of the detainees,” Librado-Trinidad stated.
