Anti-communist groups condemn Netherlands gov’t for ‘coddling’ CPP leader Sison

Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Two anti-communist groups have condemned the government of the Netherlands for what they called its “continuous coddling’ of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison, who has been living there in political asylum since 1987.

The two groups – La Liga Independencia Pilipinas and League of Parents of the Philippines — have also asked Dutch authorities on Monday to send the communist leader back to the Philippines to effectively end its decades-long communist insurgency.

The groups said that their request was in line with their advocacy against the communist movement, as the anniversary of CPP, the New People’s Army, and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (CPP-NPA-NDFP) nears.

“The groups lamented that Netherlands became a ‘safe haven’ for Sison and other CTG leaders to continue planning their atrocities in NPA-infiltrated areas in the Philippines,” La Liga Independencia Pilipinas and League of Parents of the Philippines said in a joint statement.

CTG stands for “communist terrorist group.”

“They also condemned [the] Netherlands government for ‘continuous coddling’ Sison and tolerating his criminal activities and ‘using their country as a spring board of aggression’,” they added.

Sison has not returned to the Philippines since going on self-exile. There have been invitations from President Rodrigo Duterte — Sison’s former student in college — to meet somewhere or to talk in the Philippines, but such plans have not materialized.

Similarly, peace talks between the communists and the government have failed as trust between the two sides fell after both parties accused each other of violating ceasefire agreements.

However, the communist leader has maintained that the Philippine government could not touch him in the Netherlands because the latter would not violate international law.

But the groups believe that Sison’s coming home — and facing a myriad of cases against him — would help curtail the alleged atrocities committed by communist terrorist groups.

They also insisted on calling Sison a “political terrorist,” not a refugee, condemning the recent attack of NPA rebels on a police unit doing patrol in Labo town of Camarines Norte.

“We appeal to the Netherlands Government to expel Joma Sison together with his co-terrorists,” they said in the statement.

“The State of the Netherlands has provided Joma Sison and the ruling members of the terrorist group CPP-NPA-NDF a sanctuary and a staging ground in Utrecht, Netherlands, to propagate their senseless war of terror and aggression against the government and the Filipino people,” it added.

The groups hope that the Dutch government would grant their request.

“We know and believed (sic) that the Netherlands is a state that pushes humanitarian actions and which has been wrongfully deceived by Joma Sison and his co-conspirators,” the groups noted.

“Now is the time to expel these terrorists from their sanctuary. They have brought so much hate, manipulation, death, and destruction to our society and our lives while evading prosecution.  These terrorist enablers pass themselves off as victims, feigning persecution and harassment by our government. But they attack the peaceful lives of the Filipino people from the safety of Europe,” it added.

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