By Ronron
August 29, 2007
Both the armed members and legal organization members of the communist movement vowed on Wednesday to mobilize following the apprehension of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria Sison in the Netherlands the other day (Tuesday).
“The struggle of the CPP NPA (New People’s Army) NDF (National Democratic Front (NDF) will further strengthen. On the part of the New People’s Army, they will not stop, of course,” NDF chief peace negotiator Luis Jalandoni said in a radio interview yesterday.
“The struggle also of the different parties in the countryside and the different sectors will continue. There will be protest actions in different countries, not just in the Philippines, like in Hongkong, Australia, United States, Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, and other countries,” he added.
National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said they expect the communists’ reaction, but assured that the government are prepared for it.
“That (intensifying further the NPA’s offensives) is normal to them… But my only appeal is for us not to drag the peace talks issue into this murder case. The murder case is another issue that he (Sison) should face,” Gonzales said in a separate radio interview.
With the apprehension of Sison, the military went on full alert status nationwide effective 8am yesterday morning. The Philippine National Police (PNP), for its part, had already raised since last week its alert in Metro Manila and the entire Mindanao to the highest level, while the second level is in effect in the Visayas area.
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. explained though that the raising of the alert level of the military is also part of standard practice when the President leaves the country. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is set to leave for Malaysia today (Thursday) to attend the Golden Anniversary of the country until tomorrow (Friday).
“Primarily, it’s because of the departure of the President, and then it’s timely, incidentally, that Joma Sison was arrested, so we want to be ready if there are reactions by the CPP-NPA,” Esperon said.
The military chief is apparently downplaying the possibility of retaliatory attacks by communist rebels, saying, “there is really no indication that there will be chaos.”
Esperon even views the apprehension of Sison as a weakening factor for his followers in the country.
“Definitely, it will be a big boosts for our internal security operations. Just imagine the chairman of the CPP-NPA getting arrested? Remember, Joma Sison has been giving his opinions and orders here to conduct more operations, intensify as much as possible the attacks, build the party some more in the countryside? All these directives come from him so with him in prison, facing charges, then that could certainly pre-occupy him,” Esperon said.
But on the side of the PNP, Deputy Chief for Administration Deputy Director Gen. Avelino Razon, Jr. said they are not taking the threat of the CPP-NPA-NDF lightly.
“We have given directives to our regional directors and provincial chiefs to safeguard police stations and vital installations,” Razon said.
He pointed out, however, that should the communist movement push through with an “all out war without provocation,” then it would show how they disrespect the process of the Dutch government.
“We can really see here the true color of the CPP-NPA. And you watch out who will express their protest over the arrest of Mr. Sison,” Razon said.
Razon maintained that the apprehension of Sison was a result of an official investigation by the Dutch authorities, in proper coordination with Philippine government.
He disclosed that the Dutch police has started investigating the case of Sison in November 2005. The case – inciting to killings in the Philippines (Kintanar and Tabara cases in 2003 and 2004 respetcively) – stemmed from complaints filed in the Netherlands by the families of the victims, said Gonzales.
“The actual processing of interviews of witnesses started in January 2006. And it was finished in July 2007. That’s how long the process they took just to look at the evidence at hand and if the case really has merit,” Razon said.
He said there were documentary evidence, testimonial account of people who showed up, forensic evidence from the Crime Laboratory, and other forms of evidence that were considered and taken by the Dutch authorities when they investigated the case.
“What I know is the DIDM (Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management, Crime Laboratory, and other investigating arm spent more than one year assessing evidence, talking to witnesses, even to widows of Kintanar and Tabara,” Razon said.
“So we saw that the case has held through. The Dutch police and prosecutors assessed the evidence, testimony, forensic. And in their assessment, there was probable cause. So when they went back, they did file a case,” he added.
Believing that there is no legal case and that it is just part of the government’s political persecution of Sison, various militant groups, in a press conference in Quezon City, called yesterday for the immediate release of the communist leader.
“We will have a mass action tomorrow (Thursday) at the Dutch Embassy in Makati City. There will be similar actions in Hongkong, New York, and New Zealand,” Bayan Muna Secretary General Renato Reyes said.
Sison was taken into police custody at around 9:30 am Tuesday in Utrecht based on the incitement to killing cases in the Philippines. At the same time, his residence and that of other NDF members, as well as the NDF office, were raided by police, a move seen by his allies as proof that the case is not just against Sison but the NDF and the CPP.
Sison has been in self-exile in the Netherlands since 1987 after his release from detention during the Marcos era./DMS
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