MANILA, Sept. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- The Philippine cabinet Tuesday passed a peace plan with an aim at ending decade-long conflicts with the rebel groups and achieving the final peace in the country.

    The government said in a statement that the seven-point plan approved by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and selected cabinet members was a part of the 10-point legacy agenda the president vowed during her inauguration.

    In the peace plan and the reformulated Mindanao National Initiative (Mindanao NATIN), the cabinet committed to continue and conclude the peace talks with rebel groups including the National Democratic Front (NDF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and complete the implementation of existing final peace agreements with them.

    Amnesty, reconciliation and rehabilitation program should also be put in place for former rebels or combatants, the cabinet noted.

    On peace building and conflict prevention, the Arroyo's administration plans to implement the rehabilitation and development programs, and hold inter-faith dialogues for healing and reconciliation of local people in the conflicted areas.

    Under the revised Mindanao NATIN program, the president listed 15 major road and bridge projects totaling 3.87 billion pesos (69.1 million US dollars) in the region.

    According to the statement, Arroyo has instructed the Office ofthe Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) to create the Amnesty and Rehabilitation Commission to focus on the reintegration of former rebel returnees.

    In addition, the OPAPP was also ordered to coordinate with concerned agencies to work out local and foreign funding for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and New People's Army (NPA) -affected areas.

    The almost 9,000 NPA, which is the armed wing of the NDF, has been waging a rebellion since 1969 in remote areas of the country and branded as a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States.

    Although the peace talks between the government and the NDF was snagged after the United States refused to remove the NPA from its foreign terrorist organization list, the rebel negotiation panel said that an agreement to end decades of armed conflict with the government is still possible to be reached within the six-year term of the new administration.

    The Philippine government has reached a ceasefire with the 12,000-strong MILF, which has been waging a rebellion in the southern island of Mindanao since 1978. Two sides are expected to resume the peace talks soon in Malaysia. Enditem