CPP founder rejects faceoff, says Enrile’s a liar

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile

LUCENA CITY—Self-exiled Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison on Tuesday accused Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile of lying in his newly published book, “Juan Ponce Enrile: A Memoir,” to cover up his role during the infamous martial law period.

“Like the cheapest shyster, Enrile engages in systematic lying in whitewashing the martial law regime and absolving it of the gross and systematic human rights violations that it committed against the Filipino people,” Sison said in a statement.

The CPP founder and now consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace panel said the only truth in Enrile’s memoir was “his admission that he is a bastard.”

In his memoir, Enrile once more admitted he was born out of wedlock.

“In his own narrative, he boasts of a sneaky ability to do anything in order to obtain power and wealth,” Sison said.

In a separate statement, the information office of the Utrecht-based NDFP slammed Enrile’s challenge to go face to face with Sison and known leftist leaders before the so-called “Truth Commission.”

“Enrile’s challenge for certain persons and organizations to face him in a sham truth commission is false, deceptive and loaded in his favor,” the NDF said in a statement sent by Ruth de Leon, executive director of the NDFP international information office.

The NDFP argued that the persons and organizations Enrile wanted to confront could not submit themselves to a commission “that has refused to render justice to the victims of human rights violations under martial law” and prevented indemnification of the victims per a US court decision.

On Sunday, Enrile, who was the defense secretary of deposed President Ferdinand Marcos during martial law, dared Sison and wife, Juliet de Lima; NDFP peace panel chairman Luis Jalandoni; Rodolfo Salas aka “Kumander Bilog”; Bernabe Buscayno (alias Kumander Dante); and former NDFP spokesman Satur Ocampo to a confrontation before the independent commission reportedly being planned by President Aquino that would gather testimonies of martial law survivors in search of the truth behind the dark years of Marcos’ rule.

Enrile envisioned a faceoff where he and the leftist leaders would be given the right to cross-examine each other about issues hurled against him and their organizations.

He said he wanted his detractors to explain their role in the 1971 Plaza Miranda bombing that nearly wiped out the leadership of the Liberal Party, among other issues.

Enrile said he was compelled to issue the challenge so the issues surrounding martial law would have their closure after his book drew brickbats for some alleged untruthful contents.

Sison noted that the accusation against him and the CPP as the supposed perpetrators of the Plaza Miranda bombing was dismissed by the Manila Prosecutor’s Office on March 2, 1994.