Joma Sison rejects Duterte’s invitation to come home for meeting

Jose Maria “Joma” Sison says no to President Duterte’s invitation to come home.

LUCENA CITY – Exiled top communist rebel Jose Maria “Joma” Sison has again rejected President Duterte’s invitation for a one-on-one meeting in the Philippines, saying it could jeopardize the planned resumption of peace negotiation.

“I would be putting the prospect of peace negotiations at risk if I make myself available for any kind of attack by military and police officers who think that they can end the revolutionary movement by getting rid of a single person like me,” Sison, Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder said in an interview from his base in Utrecht in the Netherlands on Thursday afternoon.

He described the state security forces as “increasingly disobedient to President Duterte and continue to make offensive movements despite the current ceasefire ordered by the CPP to the NPA”.

When asked if the proposed dialogue between him and President Duterte would be possible via Skype, Sison replied: “Skyping is not advisable for discussing serious complex matters of high importance”. Before then Davao mayor Duterte assumed office as President in 2016, the two were able to talk one-on-one via Skype.

Sison also said his return to the country at this point in time is “premature.”

“It is premature for me to go to the Philippines before the mutual approval of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (Caser),” he explained.

He added: “Let the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) and NDFP (National Democratic Front of the Philippines) negotiating panels work this out first for the benefit of the people, especially with regard to genuine land reform and national industrialization.”

He said the approval and immediate implementation of Caser will be a great leap of trust and confidence between the government and the communist rebels.

On Thursday, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo disclosed to Palace reporters that President Duterte is eyeing a “one-on-one” talk with Sison.

Panelo said Duterte guaranteed Sison he will not be arrested should he come home from The Netherlands where he is currently in self-exile for more than three decades.

Early this month, Sison also rejected the government offer for him to return home to have a “face-to-face” meeting with President Duterte.
Sison and his wife Juliet have been living in the Netherlands as political refugees for more than three decades now.

Sison and other Philippine communist rebel leaders had been charged with the killing of supposed spies in the 1980s in a case that was breathed new life when a Manila court issued an arrest order for them.