By Ronron
August 31, 2007
The Philippine government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), will provide legal assistance to Jose Maria Sison, the founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) who was apprehended by Dutch police last Tuesday for inciting the killings of former rebel leaders a few years back.
“I was informed that the Department of Foreign Affairs… (will) offer assistance for counsel, as with any other Filipinos,” Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, Jr. told reporters Friday at Camp Aguinaldo.
Asked if it was alright with the Defense department considering Sison’s terrorist tag, Teodoro said: “That’s the DFA position. I mean, the position of other people may be that he is (a terrorist), but he has rights. He has the right probably to due process under Dutch law, and to be presumed innocent, I suppose.”
A day after Sison’s arrest, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said they are studying how they will respond if ever the CPP leader asks for assistance from the Philippine government.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) had admitted that it helped Dutch authorities in their building up of case against Sison since last year until this year following a complaint filed by the wives of slain former rebel leaders Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara./DMS
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