LA LIGUE INTERNATIONALE DES LUTTES DES PEUPLES APPUIE LE PEUPLE BIRMAN ET CONDAMNE LE REGIME MILITAIRE

Jose Maria Sison

Président, Comité international de coordination

Ligue internationale des luttes des peuples

Le 28 septembre 2007

La Ligue internationale des luttes des peuples (International League of Peoples' Struggle, ILPS) soutient la lutte démocratique du peuple de Birmanie et condamne la violente suppression par le régime militaire des actions de masse à caractère pacifique. Le peuple birman possède le droit absolu de renverser le régime militaire fasciste et d'établir un régime démocratique sous autorité civile. De plus, il a le droit de s'assurer que les puissances impérialistes ne profiteront pas de la situation pour faire valoir leurs intérêts étroits et égoïstes.

Les actions de masse en Birmanie ont débuté suite à la hausse de plus de 500% du prix de l'essence approuvée par le régime au profit des monopoles d'État du gaz et du pétrole et des compagnies pétrolières étrangères. Par la suite, le mouvement populaire s'est étendu à une vaste série de revendications. L'immense majorité du peuple birman vit dans la pauvreté, résultat de la corruption du régime militaire et de l'exploitation du pays par les monopoles étrangers. Le mouvement démocratique populaire s'est élargi au point de mobiliser les moines bouddhistes qui demeurent très respectés en Birmanie.

La Ligue internationale des luttes des peuples condamne les déclarations hypocrites de George W. Bush et des autres leaders des pays impérialistes. Dans les faits, ces pays n'ont jamais hésité à faire affaire avec le régime militaire birman; ce faisant, ils ont directement contribué à son maintien en place. Les hauts cris qu'ils émettent actuellement à propos de la démocratie sonnent creux, quand on sait que les compagnies états-uniennes arrivent au quatrième rang sur l'ensemble des investissements étrangers en Birmanie. La compagnie pétrolière américaine Unocal est actuellement la plus importante compagnie étrangère installée dans ce pays. D'autres compagnies telles Texaco inc. et Atlantic Richfield Co. des États-Unis, la multinationale Total de France, de même que la Premier Oil britannique poursuivent leurs en Birmanie. Parmi elles, Unocal est notamment partenaire de la Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, elle-même contrôlée par le régime militaire.

De toutes manières, qu'y a-t-il de plus antidémocratique que l'imposition par le régime Bush de régimes pantin dépourvus de quelque soutien populaire que ce soit, comme c'est présentement le cas en Irak et en Afghanistan? Dans sa propre arrière-cour, la police vient d'attaquer et d'arrêter pas moins de 200 personnes lors de la manifestation anti-guerre tenue le 15 septembre à Washington. Quelques jours plus auparavant, l'épouse de George W. Bush, Laura, avait tenu une conférence de presse à la Maison-blanche pour dénoncer la répression contre les militantEs "pro-démocratie" en Birmanie -- cela, au moment même où la police attaquait les militantEs anti-guerre qui tenaient une conférence de presse sur le parvis de la Maison-blanche pour annoncer la manifestation du 15 septembre!

Ce que les États-Unis et les autres puissances impérialistes recherchent d'abord et avant tout en Birmanie, c'est la stabilité. Peu importe, pour elles, que cette stabilité soit assurée par une dictature fasciste ou dans le cadre d'une démocratie bourgeoise: un environnement stable qui favorise les investissements des capitalistes monopolistes étrangers est ce qui importe le plus. Voilà pourquoi les puissances impérialistes et leurs marionnettes s'opposent aux revendications populaires pour la libération nationale, la démocratie, la justice sociale, le développement et la paix.

La Ligue internationale des luttes des peuples appuie la lutte du peuple birman pour le démantèlement du régime militaire et la démocratie. Parallèlement, elle dénonce les tentatives de la part des puissances impérialistes de tirer avantage des événements en Birmanie pour promouvoir leurs intérêts anti-nationaux et antidémocratiques. Nous demeurons pleinement solidaires de la lutte du peuple birman pour la libération nationale, la démocratie et un avenir authentiquement socialiste.

ILPS Supports the People of Burma and Condemns the Military Regime

By Prof. Jose Maria Sison

Chairperson, International Coordinating Committee
International League of Peoples' Struggle

28 September 2007

The International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS) supports the people of Burma in their struggle for democracy and condemns the Burmese military regime for violently suppressing the peaceful mass protests. It is the sovereign right of the Burmese people to overthrow the military fascist regime and establish democracy under civilian authority. It is further their right to make sure that imperialist powers do not take advantage of the situation to advance their own selfish and narrow interests.

The mass protests started by denouncing the 500% fuel price increase approved by the regime for the benefit of the state gas and oil monopoly and foreign oil companies. Since then, the people's movement has put forward a comprehensive range of grievances. The great majority of the people live in poverty as a result of corruption by the military regime and exploitation of foreign monopoly corporations. The people's democratic movement has become so broad as to involve the militant participation of the Buddhist monks who are highly respected in Burma.

The ILPS condemns the hypocritical statements of George W. Bush and other leaders of imperialist powers. These have in fact conducted business with the Burmese military regime and served to prolong its rule. Their protestations about democracy ring hollow. US companies are the fourth biggest foreign investors in Burma. The US oil company Unocal is the biggest foreign-owned company in the country. Besides Unocal, Texaco Inc. and Atlantic Richfield Co. of the United States, Total of France and Premier Oil of Britain maintain operations in Burma. Unocal has joint ventures with Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise of Burma which is controlled by the Burmese military regime.

What can be more undemocratic than what Bush is doing in foisting puppet regimes with no popular support on the people of Afghanistan and Iraq? In his own backyard, the police cracked down and arrested more than 200 protesters during the September 15 anti-war demonstration in Washington D.C. Previous to this, while wife Laura Bush was holding a press conference inside the White House condemning the crackdown on pro-democracy activists in Burma, outside horse-mounted police were attacking anti-war activists who were holding a press conference to announce the Protest March on September 15.

What the US and other imperialist powers want foremost in Burma is stability. They do not care if that stability comes from fascist dictatorship or bourgeois democracy. A stable environment for their monopoly capitalist investments is the most important thing for them. The imperialist powers and their puppets oppose the Burmese people's demands for national liberation, democracy, social justice, development and peace.

The ILPS supports the Burmese peoples struggle for the dismantling of the military regime and for democracy. At the same time, the ILPS denounces the attempts of imperialist powers to take advantage of the events in Burma to advance their anti-national and anti-democratic interests. We are in complete solidarity with the Burmese people's struggle for national liberation, democracy and a genuine socialist future.

Justice for Joma pickets held in Ottawa & Toronto

Reza, former political prisoner during time of Shah in Iran, explains his support of Prof. Jose Maria Sison to Dutch Embassy official in Ottawa on September 26, 2007

The Justice for Joma Committee – Canada held picket lines in front of the Embassy of The Netherlands in Ottawa and their consulate in Toronto on September 26, 2007 to protest attempts by Dutch authorities to put Prof. Jose Maria Sison back in jail.

The protest actions were held in Canada and elsewhere to expose a decision by Dutch prosecutors to appeal a recent decision to release Prof. Sison from a Dutch prison and attempt to put him back behind bars.

Prof. Sison, a vocal critic of the Philippine government and their backers in Washington who has lived as a political refugee in the Netherlands for the past 20 years, was arrested by Dutch police on trumped up murder charges on August 28, 2007. Following world wide protests a Dutch court (District Court in The Hague) ordered him released on September 13, 2007 because of lack of evidence directly linking him to the crime of incitement to murder in the Philippines.

In Ottawa, a former political prisoner from Iran told an Embassy official that he was very concerned about the attempts to re-arrest Prof. Joma Sison.

“As a political refugee here in Canada I am very worried that if the Dutch government manages once again to criminalize the political work of Prof. Sison, perhaps the same tricks will be used against refugees like me in other countries,” he said. “I thought Holland was a safe country for political refugees, so I am surprised to see you copying the American model of criminalizing political struggle and arresting and mistreating people who fight for justice.”

“As someone who spent three years imprisoned and tortured for my political beliefs, I feel very strongly about this case and would be ready to give up my place here in Canada for Prof. Sison if you refuse to allow him to live safely and peacefully in the Netherlands!”

Michael Pestman, the Dutch lawyer for Prof. Sison, has reported that “no new evidence was presented” during the hearing on the appeal of Dutch prosecutors to try to reverse the earlier decision of the Dutch court releasing Sison.

According to reports, the court will come out with a decision on the Dutch prosecutor’s appeal on October 3, 2007. The Justice for Joma Committee – Canada and other organizations have every intention of keeping up the pressure until all charges are dropped against Prof. Sison.

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ADVISORY

27 September 2007

The Netherlands Court of Appeals heard arguments yesterday on whether Professor Jose Maria Sison should remain free or be returned to prison. The court decision will be released 9:30 am on Wednesday, 3 October.

The Dutch government prosecutors appealed the 13 September decision of The Hague District Court which released Prof. Sison from prison. The District Court declared that the prosecutors did not have sufficient evidence to prove charges that Prof. Sison ordered the killing of Romulo Kintanar in 2003 and Arturo Tabara in 2004.

The Court of Appeals yesterday heard arguments from the Dutch government prosecutor, and from defense counsel Michiel Pestman. The three-member panel of judges also gave Prof. Sison an opportunity to present his statement in court. Also present in the courtroom was Prof. Sison's wife, Julie de Lima.

Prof. Sison and his defense counsel Michiel Pestman of the famous Böhler, Franken, Koppe, Wijngaarden law firm expressed confidence that the decision of The Hague District Court would be upheld because the prosecution failed to present any direct evidence or argument that could cause its reversal by the Court of Appeals. However, they refrained from going into any detail because the appeal is still sub judice.

Representatives of member-organizations of the Defend Jose Maria Sison Campaign network from the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, held a picket outside the court house to denounce the continuing persecution of Prof. Sison and to demand the dropping of the false charges against him.

Committee DEFEND International

Never Again to Martial Law

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 21, 2007

Never Again to Martial Law: Justice for Joma Committee - Canada marks 35th Anniversary of Philippine Martial Law

Thirty five years ago today, on September 21, 1972, the US-backed dictatorship of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in the Philippines. In remembrance of this grim period in Filipino history, when political parties, unions, and organizations opposing Marcos were made illegal, the newly formed Justice for Joma Committee - Canada joins with the Philippine people and concerned citizens around the globe in raising the call: Never again to martial law!

Three and a half decades later the US-backed Macapagal-Arroyo regime in the Philippines has implemented a series of grossly anti-democratic policies in the name of the "War on Terror" that are a form of martial law in fact, if not in name. We can point to the almost 900 political, social and union activists who have been gunned down and murdered in total impunity since Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came to power in 2001 as well as the poverty and insecurity that is a daily fact of life for most of the 85 million Filipinos.

Malcolm Guy of the Justice for Joma Committee - Canada said, "Earlier this year, the current Philippine administration was convicted of 'crimes against humanity' by the Permanent People's Tribunal held in The Hague, Netherlands. Today, the Dutch government, in collusion with Manila, is attempting to re-arrest Prof. Jose Maria Sison, or Joma as he is popularly known, a long-standing activist, writer and political refugee and one of the strongest critics of the Macapagal-Arroyo regime. Prof. Sison was recently arrested in the Netherlands on false murder charges but then released following a series of protests in Canada and around the globe as well as a total lack of proof."

On this anniversary of martial law in the Philippines we salute all those Filipinos, like Prof. Sison, who continue to fight for true democracy and peace with justice in the Philippines, who continue to struggle for a government representing the interests of the overwhelming majority of the Philippine people, who continue to stand up for a country freed of foreign multinationals and foreign troops where Filipinos will no longer be forced to migrate in their millions to find a decent job, good education and security.

On September 26, 2007, the Justice for Joma Committee - Canada will hold actions to protest an attempt by Dutch prosecutors to try to return Prof. Jose Maria Sison to prison by appealing his release.

We agree fully with Dr. Carol Pagaduan Araullo, chair of the progressive Philippine organization, Bayan, who writes: "(W)hen we say Never again! we mean not only 'Never again to fascist dictatorship, killings, massacres, torture and all these gross human rights violations'. We should also mean NEVER AGAIN to plunder, crony capitalism, kleptocracy, unbridled ambition, abuse of power and puppetry to foreign interests."

That’s why we say:

Stop the killings in the Philippines !

Never again to Martial Law !

Justice for Prof. Jose Maria Sison !

Justice for Joma Committee - Canada

Centre for Philippine Concerns - Montreal, Centre for Philippine Concerns - Winnipeg, Damayan - Filipino Workers Resource Centre (Toronto), Filipino Workers Support Committee - Toronto, Ontario Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines - Ottawa, Philippine Migrant Society of Canada - Ottawa, Philippine Network for Justice and Peace - Toronto, PINAY - Filipino Women of Quebec, SIKLAB – Toronto, UFiND (United Filipinos for Nationalism and Democracy) - Toronto, Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada - Toronto

Assemblée générale / Annual General Meeting

Centre d'appui aux Philippines (CAP-CPC)
Centre for Philippine Concerns

Dimanche le 30 septembre 2007, 14h00-16h30
Sunday, September 30, 2007, 2 pm to 4:30 pm

Victory! Prof. Jose Maria Sison walks free / Les organisations canadiennes fêtent la libération de Joma Sison

Montreal – Filipino migrant organizations and solidarity groups across Canada, members of the Free Joma Sison Committee, are celebrating the release today of Filipino anti-imperialist leader Prof. Jose Maria (Joma) Sison, unjustly imprisoned by Dutch authorities on August 28, 2007.

Prof. Sison is a political refugee who has been living in exile for 20 years in Utrecht, Netherlands. As the chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), Prof. Sison has been instrumental in pursuing peace talks between the Philippine government and the Philippine revolutionary organization. Sison was a political prisoner for over a decade under former dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The Free Joma Sison Committee in Canada held a series of actions including protest letters, fax barrages and rallies in various Canada cities after Prof. Sison’s arrest. They were part of a world-wide reaction to the attempted criminalization of Prof. Sison’s political activities. Dutch prosecutors, in obvious cooperation with the government of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in Manila, had alleged that Prof. Sison ordered the killings in the Philippines of Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara. But today, a Dutch court ruled that there was not enough evidence to prove Sison committed the crimes in collusion with others or that he incited others to kill the victims. In other words, the case is groundless.

Of course, the struggle is far from over and we will have to remain vigilant and continue our actions to have the charges dropped. The Dutch national prosecutor’s office has said it will appeal the court’s decision to release Sison. Also, the national police still “consider him a suspect,” according to the national prosecutor's office. The Philippine government will not give up its attempts to silence one of its strongest and most principled opponents.

But our united struggle has paid off to date. We wish we could have been at the NDFP office in Utrecht when Prof. Sison was welcomed by his wife Juliet de Lima, friends and colleagues from the National Democratic Front including Luis Jalandoni and Connie Ledesma, and dozens of well wishers. Mabuhay to Prof. Joma Sison and his family. We confirm our intention to support the ongoing struggle to clear his name and have all charges against him thrown out.

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Letter from Prof. Jose Maria Sison

Friends, Warmest greetings!

I am deeply pleased and thankful that the Rechtsbank has decided
to release me from detention. You cannot imagine how happy I am.
It is extremely painful and humiliating to be subjected to
solitary confinement and tough interrogation under overheated
lamps. The ordeal is acute because I am innocent of the false
and politically-motivated charge leveled against me.

I have nothing to do with any murder. This is against my moral
and political principles. I am a teacher by profession who loves
the exchange of ideas towards common understanding and practical
cooperation. I have long devoted myself to the advocacy of human
rights and work for a just peace in the Philippines. I
cannot go into the facts and arguments concerning my case. It is
my lawyer Michiel Pestman who is competent to give you the
information that you need.

Consequent to the release order of the Rechtsbank, I gain some
confidence in the Dutch legal system. I have the opportunity to
prove my innocence and continue to benefit from fair play.
I feel somehow vindicated in choosing The Netherlands as my place
of refuge from persecution in the Philippines. I also wish to
thank the Dutch, Filipino and other peoples for their solidarity
and support.

I will stay in the Netherlands with my wife and my two children
who are already independent. I will conduct my legal defense and
further clear my name. I will continue to exercise my freedom to
speak and other democratic rights. I will continue to work for
national freedom, human rights, social justice and an enduring,
because just, peace in the Philippines.

I will continue to abide by the laws of the Dutch state and
further develop solidarity with the Dutch people whose friendship
and kindness I have enjoyed for more than 20 years.

Thank you.

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Les organisations canadiennes fêtent
la libération de Jose Maria Sison

Montréal – Les organisations de migrantes/ants philippines/ins et les groupes de solidarité à travers le Canada, membres du Comité pour la libération de Joma Sison, fêtent la libération, survenue aujourd'hui, du professeur Jose Maria (Joma) Sison, dirigeant anti-impérialiste philippin, arrêté et emprisonné le 28 août 2007 par les autorités des Pays-Bas.

Le professeur Sison est un réfugié politique qui a vécu en exil pendant 20 ans à Utrecht, aux Pays-Bas. En tant que principal consultant politique du Front national démocratique des Philippines (NDFP), le professeur Sison a joué un rôle crucial dans le cadre des négociations de paix menées entre le gouvernement des Philippines et l'organisation révolutionnaire philippine. Sous la dictature de Ferdinand Marcos, Sison a été prisonnier politique pendant dix ans.

Dès que le professeur Sison a été arrêté et emprisonné, un Comité pour la libération de Joma Sison a été formé au Canada et ce dernier a organisé une série d'activités, entre autres des campagnes d'envoi de lettres de protestation par la poste et par télécopieur, des manifestations et des conférences dans plusieurs villes du Canada après l'arrestation du professeur Sison. Ces activités font partie de la riposte mondiale qui s'est développé face à la tentative de criminaliser les activités politiques du professeur Sison. Les procureurs des Pays-Bas, en coopération évidente avec le gouvernement de Gloria Macapagal Arroyo à Manille, ont accusé faussement le professeur Sison d'avoir ordonné la mort de Romulo Kintanar et d'Arturo Tabara aux Philippines. Or aujourd'hui la cour des Pays-Bas a statué qu'il n'y a pas assez de preuves indiquant que Sison ait commis des crimes en collusion avec des tiers ou qu'il ait incité des tiers à tuer les victimes en question. En d'autres termes le cas sans fondement.

Mais la lutte est loin d'être terminée. Nous devrons en effet rester sur nos gardes et poursuivre nos activités afin d'obtenir l'abandon des accusations. Le bureau du procureur du gouvernement des Pays-Bas a déclaré, d'une part, qu'il en appelerait de la décision de la Cour de libérer Sison et que, d'autre part, la police nationale continue de le considérer comme étant un "suspect". Le gouvernement philippin ne cessera pas ses efforts visant à faire taire l'un de ses opposants les plus puissants et les plus intègres.

Mais, pour l'instant, notre lutte conjointe a été couronnée de succès. Nous aurions voulu être à Utrecht, dans le bureau du Front national démocratique des Philippines lorsque le professeur Sison a été accueilli par sa femme Juliet de Lima, par ses amies/is et par ses compagnes/gnons de lutte du Front national démocratique, entre autres Luis Jalandoni et Connie Ledesma, ainsi que des dizaines de personnes qui sont venues pour le féliciter. «Mabuhay» («Félicitations» en Tagalog) au professeur Joma Sison et à sa famille! Nous réitérons notre engagement à appuyer la lutte actuelle pour que son nom ne soit plus sali et pour mettre fin à toute accusation pesant contre lui.

Dutch Embassy in Ottawa: demonstrators demand Prof. Jose Maria Sison's release

Ottawa, Canada, September 7, 2007 – Overseas Filipinos and supporters picketed in front of the Embassy of the Netherlands here today to demand the immediate and unconditional release of Prof. Jose Maria Sison, a political refugee who was arrested by Dutch police on August 28, 2007. The demonstrators also protested raids on the homes of other progressive Filipino migrants and refugees in the Netherlands.

Prof. Sison, one of the best known and most vocal opponents of the government of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her backers in Washington, was arrested for allegedly ordering the killings of Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara in the Philippines, the homeland he has not visited in 20 years.

“Prof. Sison is a strong anti-imperialist freedom fighter, not a criminal,” said Joe Calugay, coordinator of the Ontario Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (Ottawa). “His only crime it to have fought side-by-side with the Philippine people for justice, liberation from foreign domination and fundamental political and social change to benefit the overwhelming majority of the people in his homeland.”

“We are very concerned that he is being kept in isolation in the Scheveningen Penitential Facility, the very prison used by the Nazis to hold and torture Dutch resistance fighters during WWII,” Calugay told the demonstrators. The last time he was imprisoned like this was during the dark days of the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines. Here he is again deprived of his basic rights as a prisoner in what we thought was a civilized and humane society.”

Domestic helpers and other migrant workers at the picket said they felt a strong connection to Prof. Sison because, like them, he was forced to live thousands of miles from his beloved homeland. They said they admired his efforts to change the social and political situation in the Philippines so that millions of Filipinos would no longer be obliged to seek temporary, often unprotected and poorly paid employment in hundreds of countries around the globe.

“We can only wonder if increasing Dutch investments in the Philippines is the real motive behind Prof. Sison’s arrest,” said Malcolm Guy, coordinator for the Centre for Philippine Concerns in Montreal. “Dutch-owned Premier Oil was recently granted rights to drill for oil in Ragay Gulf area of the Philippines. Holland is one of the major investors in the Philippines, with 150 Dutch companies including Royal Dutch Shell and Unilever siphoning huge profits from the country.”

Anna Rijk, Public Diplomacy Officer at the Embassy, met with the picketers who asked her to take their demands to Ambassador Karel P.M. de Beer and request the immediate release of Prof. Jose Maria Sison. “We Filipinos in Canada and elsewhere will never rest until you free this courageous and principled man,” one demonstrator told her.

Ms. Rijk claimed that the murder case is now in the hands of the Dutch judicial system, so there was little the Embassy could do. “We all know that the Dutch police would never have arrested a world renowned political refugee like Prof. Sison without a green light from top authorities in the Dutch government. This is a political case disguised as a criminal case, so therefore we do not accept that your hands are tied and ask that the Embassy transmit our demand for Prof. Sison’s release.” Malcolm Guy replied.

An ongoing fax and e-mail barrage based on the following letter has been organized across Canada over the last two weeks calling on the Dutch government to release Prof. Sison. Please add your voice to the protest :

His Excellency KAREL P.M. DE BEER
Ambassador
Royal Netherlands Embassy
Constitution Square Building
350 Albert Street, suite 2020
Ottawa, ON K1R 1A4

corriel/e-mail: ott-cdp@netherlandsembassy.ca
fax: +1613 237-6471
phone: +1613 237-5030

Dear Ambassador,

I, ____________________, would like to register my strong condemnation for the arrest of Professor Jose Maria Sison, 68, by Dutch Police on what I believe are trumped up charges of “incitement to murders”.

I hereby demand that the Royal Netherlands government order the immediate and unconditional release of Prof. Jose Maria Sison. I also register my total disapproval of the raids on the homes of other progressive Filipino migrants and refugees in the Netherlands.

As you know, Professor Sison has been a political refugee in the Netherlands for nearly 20 years under the Refugee Convention and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

Sison was arrested August 28, 2007 for the murders of Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara -- in the Philippines, although he has not set foot in that country for 20 years.

I maintain that the real reasons for Professor Sison's arrest are political... not criminal. Prof. Jose Maria Sison has been a leading figure of the Philippine national democratic revolution for almost forty years. He is one of the pioneers who revived the anti-imperialist movement in the Philippines in the early 1960s and he re-established the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). For nine years, he was the most prominent political prisoner of dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Sison admits having been the founder and first chairman of the CPP, from its re-establishment in 1968 until his capture by the Marcos regime in 1977, but today he clearly states he is only the chief political consultant of the NDF and is not in the leadership of the New People’s Army or the CPP.

The Philippine government has been plotting to try to silence Professor Sison for many years. They now seem to have worked out a deal with your government to criminalize and gag one of the most influential and vocal critics of the government of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

They want Professor Sison out of the way because, as the Chief Political Consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDF), he embodies the aspirations of the Filipino people in the over 30-year old struggle they are waging for the country's national and social liberation. He personifies the spirit of true and genuine international solidarity necessary to bring about a just and lasting peace. And he has been at the forefront of the campaign to put an end to the 850 extrajudicial politically-motivated killings and 200 forced disappearances that have been perpetrated with impunity during the government of President Arroyo. (See recent report by Professor Philip Alston, Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Human Rights Council on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.)

I find the timing of this arrest particularly suspicious since earlier this year the European Court of First Instance annulled the Council of the European Union (EU) decision blacklisting Prof. Sison as a "terrorist".

I concur with Supreme Bishop Millamena of the Philippine Independent Church, who said in a recent interview: "Prof. Sison is not a terrorist. All he does is to fight with the poor for a life in dignity. That is a legitimate struggle”. Former Philippine Vice President Teofisto Guingona, Jr. has also said that “one needs to make a distinction between a rebel who is fighting because of hunger and perceived injustice, and a terrorist who seeks to sow terror and hatred”.

I reiterate my call to the Dutch government and police to immediately and unconditionally release and drop all charges against Professor Jose Maria Sison.

Yours sincerely,
Signed by
Signed in (city)
Date

Background to arrest of Prof. Jose Maria Sison

Netherlands sharing of intelligence info with Philippine government will endanger the lives of Arroyo political opponents

Luis G. Jalandoni
Chairperson
Negotiating Panel
National Democratic Front of the Philippines
September 09, 2007

The NDFP has reliable information that Deputy National Security Adviser Pedro Cabuay, Jr. and Director General Cesar Garcia of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency are in The Netherlands to request Dutch authorities to share with them what they presume as a wealth of intelligence that the Dutch police have gathered from the raids on the NDFP Information Office and six houses simultaneous with the arrest of Prof. Sison on 28 August 2007.

The NDFP had previously warned the Dutch authorities through its lawyer Mr. Bernard Tomlow on 5 September that they would be held accountable if more extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of political opponents of the Arroyo regime would occur as a result of sharing of intelligence information to Philippine intelligence agencies or to the CIA. Professor François Houtart and Secretary General Gianni Tognoni of the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal have also expressed deep concerns over the safety of the Tribunal's witnesses, after learning that the Dutch authorities also seized visual, written and recorded material related to the Tribunal's Second Session on the Philippines.

Generals Cabuay, Jr. and Garcia are directly responsible for implementing the Arroyo government's national internal security plan Oplan Bantay Laya, which has resulted to nearly 900 extrajudicial killings and more than 200 enforced disappearances of known political activists and leaders of opposition groups. The enforced disappearance of NDFP Consultant Rogelio Calubad and his son Gabriel on 17 June 2006 in Calauag, Quezon province was perpetrated by forces of the Southern Luzon Command (SOLCOM) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), then under the command of General Cabuay, Jr.

Sharing information with Philippine intelligence agencies and the CIA would pose a very real danger to the lives of those who have been in communication with the NDFP in connection with the peace negotiations and other matters.

We wish to remind the Dutch government that the Arroyo regime has already been censured by the Amnesty International, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, the European Union and other governments for the rampant extrajudicial killings of nearly 900 and enforced disappearances of more than 200 political opponents of Arroyo.

The whole world knows about the capacity of the Arroyo regime to commit the worst forms of human rights violations. The Dutch government has already helped Arroyo in deflecting attention from her crimes by arresting Prof. Jose Maria Sison for obviously trumped up charges. It would be complicit to future extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in the Philippines if it shares intelligence information to Philippine intelligence agencies. #

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For Reference:
Ruth de Leon
Executive Director
NDFP International Information Office
Tel.+31-30-2310431
Fax +31-84-7589930
Email: ndf@casema.nl

Increasing Dutch investments in Philippines tied to Joma arrest

Davao Today / September 2, 2007

MANILA –- Does the increasing number of Dutch investments in the Philippines have anything to do with the arrest last week in the Netherlands of Filipino communist leader Jose Maria Sison? Sison’s supporters in the Philippines certainly think so.

Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran, in a statement on Saturday, said the Arroyo government recently approved an oil exploration project by British, US and Dutch companies and that this, among others, “may have helped close the deal of cooperation” between Malacanang and the Dutch government to raid the office of the National Democratic Front in Utrecht and arrest Sison, its chief political consultant.