PH to ask US to remove Joma Sison from terrorist list

 INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Philippine government will be sending a formal request to remove Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria “Joma” Sison from the United States’ list of international terrorists.

The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (Opapp) said it will “pave the way for his (Sison’s) Philippine homecoming without being arrested.”

The de-listing of Sison was one of the recommendations agreed upon by the Philippine government and the CPP’s political arm, the National Democratic Front (NDF), during the peace negotiations in Rome.

The government’s chief negotiator, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, said it is in line with President Rodrigo Duterte’s promise that Sison, the chief political consultant of the NDF, would be able to return to the Philippines as part of the peace process.

He said the basis for the delisting is the ongoing negotiations with the NDF.

Sison fled to the Netherlands as a political refugee three decades ago after the government cancelled his passport. As a political refugee, he can be barred from re-entering Europe if he leaves The Netherlands.

Once he is removed from the list of international terrorists, he can attend succeeding talks outside Europe, the Opapp said, explaining that the US has control of the International Police (Interpol), which can arrest Sison if he leaves the European Union.

Bello said there is a possibility that the talks will be held in the Philippines, in order “to get support from the people.”

The New People’s Army, the armed wing of the CPP, has been waging the longest-running communist insurgency in Asia.