Amnesty for rebels ratified

QUEZON CITY — With a vote of 213 in favor, seven against, and two abstentions, the House of Representatives ratified on Monday Proclamation No. 75 issued by President Benigno S. Aquino III which grants amnesty to soldiers and enlisted personnel involved in three coup attempts during the past administration.

The failed uprisings were the July 27, 2003 Oakwood Mutiny, the February 2006 Marines Stand-Off, and the November 29, 2007 Manila Peninsula Incident.

With Proclamation No. 75, it now covers active and former personnel of the Philippine National Police (PNP) who were involved in failed attempts to overthrow the Arroyo administration.

One of the beneficiaries of the granting of amnesty is Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who is in jail on coup attempt charges Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo said he sees no serious impediment that the proposed grant of amnesty to political detainees by the President will be voted upon favorably by most members of Congress.

He said House Concurrent Resolution No. 8, authored by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., Deputy Speaker and Quezon Rep. Lorenzo “Erin” Tanada III, and Majority Leader and Mandaluyong City Rep. Neptali Gonzales II, “shall be the first and last guarantee for peace, reconciliation, unity and progress.”

“If the higher goal for the amnesty is to end all armed conflicts that adversely impact on the national economy, then it must be perceived as enabling an environment where government can go about its other business of governance more effectively,” he pointed out.

Castelo said the full and automatic grant of general amnesty “is neither bad nor wrong, per se, especially where its end goal is to pacify and unify all parties in conflict which naturally threatens the sovereignty of the government.”

According to the Quezon City lawmaker, certain social and economic conditions actually guarantee a desired equilibrium.

“I believe that the gesture of P-Noy (President Aquino) in extending amnesty to more political detainees as possible, subject to liberal judicial review by the Office of the President, will usher well to the Philippines’ achieving the so-called Millennium Development Goals,” he said.