HEADLINE | MANILA- Joma’s death opens window for peace
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THE death of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria Sison should send a signal to left-leaning groups to revive peace negotiations with the government, the agency charged with ending the decades-long insurgency said.
The 83-year-old Sison died on Saturday after a two-week confinement at a hospital in Utrecht, the Netherlands, where he had lived in a self-imposed exile for more than 30 years.
“Enough for so much blood spilled, lives lost, the awful grief sown by violent terrorist groups such as the CPP-NPA-NDF,” National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) Secretariat Executive Director Emmanuel Salamat said, referring to the CPP and its affiliate groups New People’s Army and National Democratic Front.
“Let us discourage our deceived brothers and sisters from clinging to their hopes on a false ideology that political change and national well-being can only be achieved by way of the barrel of a gun,” Salamat said.
He appealed in Filipino to Sison’s followers to return to the fold of the law and live peacefully.
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Salamat also urged peace advocates and stakeholders to make use of “huge opportunities to make a difference by giving our passion and commitment for the people we are mandated to serve.”
“A new chapter for our country and people awaits — a new hope for peace and progress as our collective and whole-of-nation commitment unites us in achieving inclusive peace and development for our fellow Filipinos, particularly in the conflict-affected and vulnerable communities — for love of God and country,” Salamat said.
He cited the government’s gains in the fight against what it refers to as communist terrorist groups or CTGs.
“I am commending the EastMinCom (Eastern Mindanao Command) for the recent dismantling of 6 CTG units in Eastern Mindanao. Earlier this month, Palawan was declared insurgency-free, a major victory for the WesCom (Western Command) and Palawan local government,” Salamat said.
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Sison’s death and the successful military operations in different regions will continue to weaken the communist insurgents, he said.
The NTF-Elcac is composed of clusters handling specific issues such as basic services, poverty reduction, livelihood and sectoral unification to carry out a whole-of-nation approach in tackling the world’s longest running communist rebellion.
News of Sison’s death was confirmed in an email posted by CPP chief information officer Marco Balbuena.
Balbuena said the “Filipino proletariat and toiling people grieve the death of their teacher and guiding light.”
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He said the CPP will give the highest possible tribute to its founding chairman, “great Marxist-Leninist-Maoist thinker, patriot, internationalist and revolutionary leader.”
A CPP Central Committee statement was shared Sunday by the Philippine Revolution Web Central in their Twitter account.
“We declare the following ten days as a period of mourning for the entire Party in order to give the highest possible tribute to Ka Joma. During this period of mourning, the NPA can stage tactical offensives against the rampaging fascist forces to defend the people,” the committee said.
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It said the NPA will perform a 21-gun salute on December 26, which coincides with its 54th anniversary and the culmination of the mourning period.
The Department of National Defense (DND) said Sison’s death “is but a symbol of the crumbling hierarchy” of the communist movement in the Philippines.
“His death deprived the Filipino people of the opportunity to bring this fugitive to justice under our country’s laws. Sison was responsible for the deaths of thousands of our countrymen,” the DND said in a statement.
“The greatest stumbling block to peace for the Philippines is gone; let us now give peace a chance,” it said.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) slammed as “irresponsible” the CPP order to the NPA, to “stage tactical offensives” in Sison’s honor.
Col. Medel Aguilar, AFP spokesman, said that instead of waging offensives, the rebels should instead think of the soul of the dead.
“Irresponsible; they should pray instead,” Aguilar told The Manila Times.
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Jose Maria Sison
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Jose Maria Sison
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Sison in 2020
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| Chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines | |
| In office 1986[1] – December 16, 2022 |
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| Preceded by | Rodolfo Salas |
| Succeeded by | Position vacant |
| In office December 26, 1968 – 1977[1] |
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| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Rodolfo Salas |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Jose Maria Canlas Sison
February 8, 1939 |
| Died | December 16, 2022 (aged 83) Utrecht, Netherlands |
| Political party | Communist Party of the Philippines (1968–2022) |
| Other political affiliations |
National Democratic Front (1973–2022) PKP-1930 (1962–1968) |
| Spouse | Julie DL. Sison |
| Children | 4 |
| Alma mater | University of the Philippines Diliman (BA) |
| Website | www |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | New People’s Army |
Jose Maria Canlas Sison (February 8, 1939 – December 16, 2022), also known by his nickname Joma, was a Filipino writer and activist who founded the Communist Party of the Philippines and added elements of Maoism to its philosophy – which would be known as national democracy. He applied the theory of Marxism–Leninism–Maoism to the history and current circumstances of the Philippines.
From August 2002, he was classified as a “person supporting terrorism” by the United States. The European Union‘s second highest court ruled in September 2009 to delist him as a “person supporting terrorism” and reversed a decision by member governments to freeze his assets.[2][3] Sison would later live in the Netherlands, applying for asylum as a political refugee in 1988, a contested request which was eventually approved in 1995.[4]
The CPP, along with its affiliates New People’s Army and the National Democratic Front, are also considered terrorist organizations by the Philippines’ Anti-Terrorism Council.[5][6][7][8]
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