ALBERTO ALCAIN/ PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO
President Rodrigo Duterte has signed an order creating the National Amnesty Commission as part of his peace agenda, Malacañang announced on Monday.
The commission will be composed of seven members.
Duterte will name a chairperson and two regular members.
The secretaries of the Department of Justice, Department of National Defense, Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity will be ex-officio members, Roque said.
The Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity will be the commission’s secretariat.
“Ang primary task po ng National Amnesty Commission ay tumanggap at magproseso ng mga aplikasyon ng amnestiya at tukuyin ang mga aplikanteng puwedeng mabigyan nito in connection with the recent amnesty proclamations pending concurrence of Congress,” Roque said.
Amnesty is a power granted to the president of the Philippines by the 1987 Constitution.
Section 19, Article VII of the Constitution states that the President has the power to “grant amnesty with the concurrence of a majority of all the members of the Congress.” John Ezekiel J. Hirro