Ex-peace negotiator: Left using Sison’s RP return for propaganda

From the Daily Tribune (Jul 5): Ex-peace negotiator: Left using Sison’s RP return for propaganda

Communist party founder Jose Ma. Sison’s supposed homecoming is nothing but political propaganda, a former ranking peace negotiator yesterday said.

“The Left is just using Sison to mainstream its ideology and gain sympathy from the public,” the source, who requested anonymity, told The Tribune, adding: “Who is he anyway?”

Sison, who has been in self-exile in the Netherlands since 1987, earlier said he is open to returning to the Philippines after President Rodrigo Duterte, his former student, assumes office, but the communist leader added the new government must first take steps to ensure his personal safety.

He has been labeled as a terrorist by the United States.

The source, however, stressed “the terror list is just an excuse.”

“Local leftists even got more notorious figures from Palestine here in the county and even allowed them to participate in protests here last year,” the peace negotiator who used to be a part of a previous administration added.

The source is referring to Palestinian resistance figure Leila Khaled who took part in militant actions against the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit hosted by Manila late last year.

Khaled is also included in the terror list after being involved a series of plane hijackings in the late 1960s and 70s, including the hijacking of TWA Flight 840 in 1969.

But for incumbent Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza, Sison’s homecoming is a matter of his discretion. They met last month in Oslo, Norway, to begin the talks with Communist Party of the Philippines’ (CPP) negotiating arm – the National Democratic Front (NDF).

“It depends on him. If he feels that it’s already time for him to return to the Philippines, then he is already a strong partner for our peace efforts,” Dureza said over state-run dzRB Radyo ng Bayan.

He added the Duterte administration is ready to secure Sison should he decide to return to the Philippines.

Duterte has promised to provide Sison a safe conduct pass.

“Definitely, the Philippine government will do its best to assist him in that direction,” Dureza stressed.

He added Sison’s inclusion in the US terror list has nothing to do with the government’s desire to pursue just and lasting peace and allow Sison to come home without interference.

“The US and other countries are not part of this,” Dureza said.

Sison, a political science professor, established the party in December 1968 and it launched a guerrilla campaign three months later.

The rebellion has left at least 30,000 people dead, by official account.

The New People’s Army is believed to have fewer than 4,000 fighters, down from a peak of 26,000 in the 1980s, according to the military, however it retains support among the deeply poor in the rural areas.

Then President Benigno Aquino revived peace talks soon after taking office in 2010 but shelved them in 2013, accusing the rebels of insincerity in efforts to achieve a political settlement.

The talks got bogged down after the communists demanded the release of scores of their jailed comrades whom they described as “political prisoners,” which the Aquino government rejected.

Meanwhile, the militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said it would not abandon its role as government critic despite its closeness with President Duterte.

According to Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes, they will not hesitate to criticize the negative policies of the new administration.

“Does accepting government posts mean the Left has capitulated? Definitely not. We have not abandoned the struggle. We are not about to fold our banners and streamers,” he stressed.

He cited as example the group’s opposition to any form of extrajudicial killings.
“Our stand is we oppose any form of extrajudicial killings even if they claim they’re being done in the course of the campaign against drugs and criminality,” Reyes said.

The group would also like to determine the reason behind the rise in the number of alleged drug pushers and drug dealers killed during police operations in recent weeks.

http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/ex-peace-negotiator-left-using-sison-s-rp-return-for-propaganda