Joma Sison slams gov’t red witch hunt

LUCENA CITY — Exiled Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria “Joma” Sison slammed what he said was an anticommunist witch hunt extended to Europe by the Duterte administration.

The administration, Sison said, was using its red-tagging strategy to paint Belgian and Philippine nongovernmental organizations as fronts of communist rebels.

“They are trying to use the European Union and the Belgian government to collaborate with them,” Sison said in a statement.

No names

Sison issued the statement in reaction to a statement attributed to Brig. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr. who was quoted as saying that the European Union and Belgium were investigating a report from the Philippine military warning financial institutions against unwittingly financing communist rebels in the Philippines.

Parlade, deputy Armed Forces chief for civil military operations, was quoted as confirming reports that the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, created last year, already met with officials of the European Union, European Parliament and the European Commission to request that Belgium and EU member countries stop giving aid to nongovernmental organizations in the Philippines.