Political terrorist ‘Joma’ must go home: groups

From the Philippine News Agency (Mar 27, 2021): Political terrorist ‘Joma’ must go home: groups (By Lade Jean Kabagani)

BRING BACK JOMA. Anti-communist groups stage a condemnation rally in front of the Dutch embassy in Makati City in this undated photo. The groups say they will not stop demanding for the Dutch government to send Sison home. (PNA file photo)

Anti-communist groups on Saturday said sending home Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria "Joma" Sison will halt the atrocities by communist terrorist groups (CTGs) as they renewed their call to the Dutch government to terminate his asylum status in the Netherlands.

In a joint statement, the League of Parents of the Philippines and Liga Independencia Pilipinas said the termination of Sison's asylum status may curtail the attacks by the New People's Army (NPA), the armed wing of the CPP.

They insisted that the 82-year-old Sison is not a political refugee but a "political terrorist”.

"We appeal to the Netherlands Government to expel Joma Sison together with his co-terrorists," the groups’ statement read.

The groups want the Dutch government to stop coddling Sison and his colleagues and let them face various cases in the Philippines.

"The State of the Netherlands has provided Joma Sison and the ruling members of the terrorist group CPP-NPA-NDF [National Democratic Front] a sanctuary and a staging ground in Utrecht, Netherlands, to propagate their senseless war of terror and aggression against the government and the Filipino people," they said.

The groups lamented that Netherlands became a "safe haven" for Sison and other CTG leaders to continue planning their atrocities in NPA-infiltrated areas in the Philippines.

The groups also condemned the recent attack of suspected NPA rebels in Labo, Camarines Norte that resulted in the death of policemen who were conducting humanitarian relief operations.

CTGs have likewise been assassinating leaders of indigenous people in far-flung communities, according to the groups, and continuously recruiting the youth to join the armed revolution.

"They use landmines forbidden under international law. And their legal fronts sabotage development through obstructionist policies. All of these have the blessings or direction of Sison," they added.

They lamented how Sison has been enjoying much of his protection and the asylum status from the Dutch government since 1987 while waging war against the Philippine government.

"We know and believed that the Netherlands is a state that pushes humanitarian actions and which has been wrongfully deceived by Joma Sison and his co-conspirators," they added.

"Now is the time to expel these terrorists from their sanctuary. They have brought so much hate, manipulation, death, and destruction to our society and our lives while evading prosecution," they said. "These terrorist enablers pass themselves off as victims, feigning persecution and harassment by our government. But they attack the peaceful lives of the Filipino people from the safety of Europe."

The groups are set to stage another condemnation rally outside the Dutch embassy on Paseo de Roxas Avenue, Makati City on Monday, March 29.

The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1135100