Duterte orders creation of National Amnesty Commission

President Rodrigo Duterte has signed an executive order to create the National Amnesty Commission (NAC) to boost peace efforts, Malacañang said on Monday. 

The body is tasked to process applications for amnesty and determine those who are eligible "in connection with the recent amnesty proclamations pending concurrence of Congress," said Duterte's spokesman Harry Roque. 

"Inalok natin ang kamay ng kapayapaan sa ilang grupo para sila po ay bumalik sa normal at payapang buhay," he told reporters.

(We offered the hand of peace to some groups so they could return to a normal and peaceful life.)

He did not identify these groups. 

The NAC will have 7 members, including a chairperson and 2 regular members that the President will appoint, said Roque. 

The heads of the departments of justice, national defense, interior and local government, and the Office of Presidential Peace Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPPAPRU) will be ex-officio members of the Commission, he said.

Malacañang has yet to provide media a copy of Duterte's order.