The next three years should be expected to be a period of intensifying conflict in the Philippines, with an Anti-Terrorism Law soon to be implemented and people reeling with discontent over a grave socio-economic crisis, aside from dissatisfaction with the Arroyo regime and the results of the recently-concluded senatorial and local elections.
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 18, June 10-16, 2007
The next three years should be expected to be a period of intensifying conflict in the Philippines, with an Anti-Terrorism Law soon to be implemented and people reeling with discontent over a grave socio-economic crisis, aside from dissatisfaction with the Arroyo regime and the results of the recently-concluded senatorial and local elections.
In a recent press conference conducted at the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) International Office in Utrecht, The Netherlands, NDFP chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison said that with the Senate dominated by the opposition and the House of Representatives ruled by administration politicians, “President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is practically immune from impeachment,” even as criticisms of her administration will continue at the Upper Chamber.
The Constitution provides that impeachment complaints are to be initiated at the House of Representatives, subject to approval by a vote of at least 1/3 of its membership, before these can be transmitted to the Senate which in turn would convene into an impeachment court.
An administration-dominated House of Representatives twice prevented, in 2005 and 2006, the approval of impeachment complaints against Arroyo for culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corrupt practices, bribery, and betrayal of public trust.
“People will be more reliant on the launching of mass actions against the regime,” said Sison. “Mass actions will play an increasingly more important role than the debates among politicians at the top.”
“The next three years will be a period of intensifying legal and other forms of struggle,” Sison said.
Sison, however, warned that the opponents of the Arroyo regime are up against the impending implementation of the Human Security Act, also known as the Anti-Terrorism Law, under which organizations or personalities opposing the government may be proscribed as “terrorists.”
“Terrorist”-listing
The press conference was organized by the Committee to Defend Filipino Progressives in Europe (DEFEND Committee) in protest against the Council of the European Union’s decision to retain Sison in the “terrorist” blacklist as expressed in an April 23, 2007 letter.
The “terrorist” tag on the CPP-NPA and on Sison is a thorny issue that has repeatedly led to the scuttling of the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the NDFP since 2002. The NDFP demands among other things the delisting of the CPP-NPA and Sison.
A former professor at the University of the Philippines (UP), where he took a degree in English Literature with honors in 1959, Sison is known as the founding chairman of the CPP.
The CPP was formed on Dec. 26, 1968 after a group led by Sison broke away from the leadership of the Lava brothers in the old Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP) over ideological differences. The NPA was formed on March 29 the following year, followed on April 24, 1973 by the NDF.
Sison was arrested in 1977, five years into Martial Law. He was released in 1986, shortly after the downfall of the Marcos dictatorship, by virtue of the general amnesty proclamation by then President Corazon Aquino.
Sison then got involved in a variety of legal and above-ground political activities, including the founding of the Partido ng Bayan (PnB or People’s Party), which fielded candidates in the 1987 elections.
However, he found himself having to seek political asylum in 1988, after the Aquino government cancelled his passport while he was on a speaking tour in Europe. He has since lived in The Netherlands as an asylum seeker.
The CPP-NPA and Sison were listed as “foreign terrorists” by the U.S. Department of State and the Council of the European Union in 2002.
Malacañang and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) have repeatedly accused Sison of directing the activities of the CPP-NPA from his base in The Netherlands – an accusation he has vehemently denied.
“The Philippine government has fed false information to the Dutch government since the time I applied for political asylum in 1988 and yet in 1998 declared and certified that there was no criminal charge pending against me,” Sison said in a June 1 press conference at the NDFP International Office in Utrecht. “The subversion charge in 1988 had been nullified by the repeal of the Anti-Subversion Law in 1992 and the complaint of multiple murder in 1991 had been dismissed by the Manila city prosecutors in 1994 as something based on pure speculation. In other words, the Manila government had misled and fooled the Dutch government in my asylum case.”
Sison believes that the U.S. and Philippine governments’ consistent feeding of “false information” against him has prevented him from being recognized as a political refugee in The Netherlands. He has been prohibited from taking a regular job in The Netherlands since applying for political asylum there 19 years ago.
The “terrorist” tagging in 2002 caused the withdrawal of the social benefits – living allowance, housing, health insurance, civil liability insurance, and old age pension – that Sison is entitled to as an asylum seeker.
Sison’s retention in the Council of the European Union’s “terrorist” blacklist becomes a more and more urgent issue as the implementation of the Human Security Act, also known as the Anti-Terrorism Law – which is slated to take effect on July 14 – nears.
“I suppose that the Manila government will align its policy in connection with the blacklisting with the position of the U.S. and the Council of the European Union and other governments that are allied with the U.S.,” Sison said when asked what the impending implementation of the Anti-Terrorism Law could imply for his retention in the “terrorist” blacklist.
“Certainly, if I would be retained in the blacklist here in Europe, that would be an encouragement to the Manila government to proscribe me, to list me, and to take action against me,” he added. “And of course I don’t have possessions anymore. I don’t know how an order to freeze my assets would affect me, or how I would be put before investigators or some sham court in the Philippines while I am under protection of Article 3 of the Refugee Convention.”
In a June 4 statement to the press, Luis Jalandoni, chairman of the NDFP Negotiating Panel, said that the U.S. and Philippine governments should respect Sison’s rights and his role in the peace process.
“Respecting the human rights of Prof. (Jose Maria) Sison and his role as chief political consultant will help pave the way for the resumption of formal talks in the peace negotiations. Unfortunately, the Arroyo regime is poised to use the newly-enacted Anti-Terrorism Law in the Philippines in order to proscribe the CPP, NPA and Professor Sison as ‘terrorists’ and continue to paralyze the peace negotiations between the NDFP and the Manila government.” (Bulatlat.com)
