MANILA – Presidential Peace Sec. Carlito G. Galvez Jr. is batting for the creation of a Department of Peace, which he envisions will eventually replace the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU).

During a media briefing on Wednesday, June 3, Galvez explained that the proposed Peace Department aims to sustain the gains achieved under the comprehensive Philippine peace over the years and institutionalize the national government’s peace agenda.

Formerly known as the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), the OPAPRU was officially launched by virtue of Executive Order 158 signed by former President Rodrigo Duterte in December 2021.

Under EO 158, the OPAPRU is mandated to manage, direct, integrate, and supervise the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Process through promoting and reinforcing reconciliation and unity among the Filipino people.

The agency has three major objectives: embedding peace, reconciliation and unity in the social fabric; enhancing resilience for peace; and pursuing social, economic, and political reengineering.

Galvez said that as OPAPRU, the organization has recalibrated the way it carries out its peacebuilding strategies so that they become more focused and responsive to emerging developments in the peace and security front.

With the creation of the Department of Peace, he hopes that all the peace initiatives of the previous administrations and the present will be consolidated, integrated and institutionalized, which the succeeding administrations can build upon.

“Nakita namin kasi na best practices ng other countries, meron talagang institution… meron talagang Ministry or Department of Peace,” Galvez pointed out.

He said that under the agency’s current set-up, a majority of OPAPRU management and personnel hold contractual positions, and therefore, don’t have security of tenure. Many talented mid-managers come and go.

According to Galvez the move to transform OPAPRU aims to address the security tenure and career advancement of peacebuilders who have dedicated their lives to peace work in the pursuit of institutionalizing and cultivating a culture of peace as well as sustaining the gains of the comprehensive peace process.

This endeavor likewise ensures that an entity with a more permanent character in the national government. It shall contribute to the promotion of peace that is not merely a fleeting priority or an ad hoc approach, but rather a sustained and consistent effort of the government.

Once OPAPRU becomes the Department of Peace, Galvez expects to have a continuity and more effective implementation of the national government’s peace policies, approaches and strategies.

Major Peace Engagements

Aside from overseeing the government’s implementation of the peace process, the OPAPRU is also the lead agency in formulating and implementing the National Action Plans for Women, Peace and Security (NAP-WPS) as well as the Naitonal Action Plan for Youth, Peace and Security.

The peace agency is also leading in the mainstreaming of the peace education in country, in partnership with the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education.

Peaceful and orderly BARMM elections

Galvez also urged the people of the Bangsamoro to help ensure the successful conduct of the first regular elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) next year.

“The Bangsamoro people must protect their votes at all costs. Every ballot cast represents the hopes and aspirations of each and every resident of the region,” he underscored.

To build on and sustain the gains of the Bangsamoro peace process, Galvez said that President Ferdinand R. Marcos’, Jr., “has expressed confidence that the first regional elections in 2025 will be clean, orderly, peaceful, and credible.”

“By this time, the people of the Bangsamoro must demonstrate their political maturity. Violence, coercion, and intimidation no longer have a place in a region where democracy, human rights, and the rule of law are the norm and not the exception,” he emphasized.

Peace milestones

The Peace adviser also highlighted key milestones achieved by the Marcos administration under the comprehensive Philippine peace process.

Under the peace process with the Moro fronts, Galvez noted that the national government has decommissioned over 26,000 former Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) combatants.

Interventions under the Normalization Track of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), “are guided by inclusive and well-coordinated bodies such as the Intergovernmental Relations Body and Inter-Cabinet Cluster Mechanism On Normalization,” he pointed out.

As part of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement for the Moro National Liberation Front, “at least 1,705 MNLF combatants have undergone a profiling process under its Transformation Program,” Galvez said.

Galvez reported that the OPAPRU has engaged 34 out of 51 provincial local government units nationwide and helped them craft Transformation Program implementation plans for former members of the Communist Party of Philippines-National Democratic Front-New Peoples’ Army (CPP-NPA-NDF).

He reaffirmed OPAPRU’s commitment to ending the decades-long communist insurgency in the country through inclusive and cross-cutting peacebuilding and socioeocomic intervetions.

“The OPAPRU will continue to find ways to resolve the armed conflict, end the armed struggle, and transform the CPP-NPA-NDF through peace negotiation,” he said.

Under the Payapa At Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA) Program, Galvez said that a peace investment amounting to Php 5 billion has been allocated, “to bring the needed development in our peace communities.”

Amnesty, a benevolent act

At the same briefing, National Amnesty Commission (NAC) Chairperson Atty. Leah Tanodra-Armamento encouraged qualified former members of rebel groups to apply for amnesty.

“I would like to call all members of the groups that have been proclaimed by the President, who are qualified to apply for amnesty to avail of this benevolent act of the President because it may not come again. So, please take advantage of this,” she said.

Tanodra-Armamento said that through the support of the OPAPRU, the NAC was able to set up the Commission, and establish nine Local Amnesty Boards (LABs) that shall receive and process applications for amnesty.

She said the NAC will establish more LABs in areas so that they become more accessible to former CPP-NPA-NDFmembers.

On November 22, 2023, President Marcos Jr. issued Proclamation Nos. 403, 404, 405, and 406 granting amnesty to members of the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa ng Pilipinas/Revolutionary Proletarian Army/Alex Boncayao Brigade RPMP-RPA-ABB, MILF, and MNLF, respectively

Following the issuance of these proclamations, the House of Representatives, on December 15 the same year, approved four House Concurrent Resolutions (HCR) that granted amnesty to the members of the aforementioned revolutionary groups.

On March 4, 2024, the Philippine Senate unanimously concurred with Presidential Proclamation Nos. 403, 405, and 404. And on March 13, 2024, the August body unanimously concurred with Proclamation No. 404.

The application period for amnesty of the members of the RPMP-RPA-ABB, MILF, and MNLF will be from March 4, 2024 to March 4, 2026, while the application period for the former members of the CPP-NPA-NDF will be from March 13, 2024 to March 13, 2026.

As contained under Section 19, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution, the President shall have the power to grant amnesty with the concurrence of a majority of all members of Congress.

The granting of amnesty is also among the main confidence-building measures under the National Task Force for Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), Local Peace Engagement (LPE) framework, Normalization Program under the CAB, Transformation Program for MNLF members, as well as the Clarificatory Implementing Document signed between the government and the RPMP-RPA-ABB or KAPATIRAN. ###