CPP says no plans yet to bury Joma Sison in PH

Jose Maria Sison INQUIRER.net file photo

MANILA, Philippines — The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) on Wednesday said there are no plans yet for the burial of its late founder Jose Maria “Joma” Sison in the Philippines.

“There are no plans yet about bringing Ka Joma’s remains back home,” CPP spokesperson Marco Valbuena told INQUIRER.net in an email interview. “The family has yet to decide on the matter.”

Valbuena, however, previously said the CPP is supporting the call of various groups and individuals to bury Sison in the Philippines.

READ: Reds want Joma Sison buried in PH

Sison was cremated and was laid to rest on Tuesday in Utrecht, the Netherlands, in a farewell ceremony held at the auditorium of the Crematorium Daelwijck attended by family members, friends, and supporters, the CPP’s political arm, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) said in a statement on Tuesday.

Sison’s ashes  will remain in the crematorium for one month, as mandated by Dutch laws, the NDFP added.

Sison died in a hospital in Utrecht, the Netherlands on December 16, 8:40 p.m., Philippine time, according to the CPP. He was 83.

He had lived in self-imposed exile in the Netherlands ever since peace talks with the government bogged down in 1987.

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