CPP founder Joma Sison dies at 83

CPP founder Jose Maria “Joma” Sison (INQUIRER / file photo)

MANILA, Philippines — Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder  Jose Maria “Joma” Sison has passed away at the age of 83, according to a post from the party’s news outlet on Saturday. 

According to Ang Bayan, Sison died in a hospital in Utrech, Netherlands on Friday, at 8:40 p.m., Philippine time.  

“Ang Bayan pays the highest tribute to CPP founding chairman, great Marxist-Leninist-Maoist thinker, patriot, internationalist and revolutionary leader, Jose Maria Sison. He passed away yesterday at around 8:40 p.m. (PH time) after two weeks confinement in the hospital. He was 83,” it said.

The 2nd Congress of the CPP also paid tribute to Sison through a statement, saying that “the greatest Filipino of the past century bereaved us peacefully last night.”

Sison has lived in  self-imposed exile in Europe ever since peace talks with the government bogged down in 1987.

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