At least 3,000 former fighters of the  Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) are expected to avail of the amnesty granted by Malacañang after the Senate concured with Presidential Proclamation 404, Senator Jinggoy Estrada said Wednesday.

The Senate adopted House Concurrent Resolution No. 20, garnering 23 affirmative votes and zero negative votes from the chamber’s lawmakers, granting amnesty to former CPP-NPA-NDF members “who have committed crimes punishable under the Revised Penal Code and special penal laws in furtherance of their political beliefs.”

Estrada said the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) is eyeing additional amnesty applicants as the latest record shows that more than 17,000 CPP-NPA-NDF members have surrendered to the government. 

While 22,000 individuals have withdrawn support to the CPP-NPA-NDF. 

“As I have said in my sponsorship speech, 'Amnesty is the best policy,” Estrada, who chairs the enate Committee on National Defense and Security, Peace, Unification, and Reconciliation, said during a plenary session. 

He called on the OPAPRU, the National Amnesty Commission (NAC), the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Department of National Defense (DND) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) “not let the amnesty measures remain just that—a mere policy.”

Estrada said the amnesty program should be taken seriously and be implemented judiciously by the concerned government agency. 

The amnesty, as provided under Section 4 of the proclamation, shall extinguish the former rebels’ criminal liability “for acts committed in pursuit of political beliefs and restore their civil and political rights suspended or lost by criminal conviction.”

Estrada, however, noted that the provision does not apply to those who have already been proscribed or those charged under the Human Security Act of 2007 and the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020. 

The Amnesty policy shall likewise not cover those who committed crimes such as kidnap for ransom, massacre, rape, terrorism, crimes committed against chastity, crimes committed for personal ends, violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, grave violations of the Geneva Convention of 1949, as well as genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture, enforced disappearances, and other gross violations of human rights.