The national government is exerting all means to bring to justice Netherlands-based Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria “Joma” Sison here in the Philippines.
National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. (REY BANIQUET / Presidential Photo / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
This was bared by National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. during the launch of the Halad ug Panaghiusa Alang sa Kalinaw Ug Kalambuan (Special Convergence Mission for Peace and Development) in Baybay City, Leyte on Tuesday.
“We have formed a team and it is now in Europe kasama ang (with the) Interpol [International Police Organization],” Esperon said.
“We have formed a team and it is now in Europe kasama ang (with the) Interpol [International Police Organization],” Esperon said.
However, Esperon refused to reveal any more details about the coordination of the Philippine team and Interpol so as not to jeopardize the operations.
He added that the national government was planning to get lawyers from Europe to possibly extradite Sison and let him answer the charges against him in the Philippines.
Sison, his wife Juliet, and 37 others are facing multiple murder charges before the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 32 over their alleged involvement in the 1980s Inopacan massacre.
Aid for Inopacan victims
Meanwhile, Christmas came early for the 135 families of the victims of 1980s Inopacan massacre in Leyte province as they were able to receive financial and livelihood assistance from the national and local governments during the Halad ug Panaghiusa Alang sa Kalinaw Ug Kalambuan.
Esperon, who also acts as the vice chairman of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), spearheaded the event in behalf of President Duterte, the task force chairman.
“We want to commemorate that unfortunate event [massacre] but we want to make it positive by way of bringing the government services to the residents,” Esperon said.
Aside from the kin of Inopacan massacre victims, the service caravan also provided social services to the residents of Baybay City.
Government agencies that participated in the service caravan included the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Department of Health (DOH), and Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).
Death of sibling
Necifora Bongato, 52, was among the kin of the victims of the Inopacan massacre who benefitted from the convergence mission.
Bongato’s younger brother, Paul, was allegedly killed by suspected Reds.
“I learned from my cousin, who is a former NPA rebel, that my brother was killed by the communist rebels and buried without our knowledge. It was merciless and it pains me until now every time that I remember it,” Bongato said in vernacular.
On the other hand, Bongato thanked the national government for the financial and livelihood assistance she received.
“I want to thank President Duterte because I feel that we are valued and remembered by the government,” she said.
Continued assistance
Baybay Mayor Jose Carlos Cari assured that the aid provided to families of the victims of the New People’s Army (NPA) will be continued even after the President’s term in 2022.
“Our aim here is sustainability and we are positive that these efforts will be continued even after President Duterte ends his term. If the next administration sees that these efforts are good, then he will continue it,” Cari said.
The Inopacan massacre was believed to have been perpetrated by the NPA, between 1984 to 1986 – at the time when the communist group launched a purge of members suspected of serving as military informants in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
The NPA is the armed wing of the revolutionary group CPP that was founded by Sison in 1968.
In the Visayas island, the purging activity was called “Oplan Venereal Disease.”
“There were suspicions within their group [CPP-NPA] that some of their members were spying for the military so they abducted and killed them,” he said.
It was only on August 28, 2006 – or about 20 years after the massacre – that the Army’s 802nd Infantry Brigade, 8th Infantry Division, unearthed the skeletal remains of at least 67 individuals in a mass grave site.
The mass grave site was discovered at the ridge of Mt. Sapang Dako in Inopacan.
More skeletal remains were discovered in different parts of Leyte province later on as authorities said the Oplan Venereal Disease victimized around 300 people.
However, Sison has repeatedly denied the existence of Inopacan massacre, calling it as a ploy by the national government to misdirect the public from more pressing issues concerning the Duterte administration, such as the drug war.
In August, 2019, the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 32 issued a warrant of arrest against Sison and 38 others over their alleged involvement in the Inopacan massacre.
The case was filed by the military in 2006, when Esperon was the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff.
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