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Sison: I was Confident of Dismissal of Raps
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Posted By angie On April 4, 2009 @ 2:30 pm
- Bulatlat - http://www.bulatlat.com/main -
http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2009/04/04/sison-i-was-confident-of-dismissal-of-raps/print/
Prof. Jose Maria Sison, chief political consultant of the National
Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and chairperson of the
International League of Peoples Struggle (ILPS), was happy when the
Dutch Public Prosecution Service decided to dismiss the charges against
him for inciting murder in relation to the killings of Romulo Kintanar
and Arturo Tabara former Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)
leaders who broke away from the group and became security consultants of
the Philippine government.
It meant, for him, more time for his work both for the NDFP Peace Panel
and the ILPS International Coordinating Committee.
He had always been confident, he said, that the charges against him
would eventually be dismissed.
I was confident because of several reasons, he said in an e-mail
interview with Bulatlat. First of all, I had nothing to do with the
killing of the security consultants and military assets Kintanar and
Tabara. Secondly, I had excellent Dutch and Filipino lawyers who
undertook my legal defense. Thirdly, I had the abundant support of the
people and organized forces worldwide.
He admitted, though, that fighting this particular battle took some toll
on him, especially in terms of the time he could have devoted to his
work both as NDFP chief political consultant and ILPS chairperson. He
was also vexed for a long while, he says, and he suffered moral and
material damages. He and his family were financially burdened by the
costs of the legal battle.
Professor, writer, revolutionary
Sison a poet, essayist, and political analyst taught English and
Social Science courses at his alma mater, the University of the
Philippines (UP), and the Lyceum of the Philippines in the 1960s, after
graduating with honors in 1959.
He founded the progressive organizations Student Cultural Association of
the University of the Philippines (SCAUP) and Kabataang Makabayan (KM).
He was later also involved in the workers and peasant movements through
the Lapiang Manggagawa (Workers Party) and the Malayang Samahan ng
Magsasaka (MASAKA or Free Association of Peasants). He became
secretary-general of the Socialist Party of the Philippines (SPP) and,
later, the Movement for the Advancement of Nationalism (MAN).
But he is best known as the founding chairman of the CPP. In 1968 he led
a group that broke away from the leadership of the Lava brothers in the
old Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP) due to ideological differences,
and re-established the party as the CPP.
Under Sisons leadership, the CPP rapidly gained strength and together
with the New Peoples Army (NPA), its armed component, which was founded
in 1969, it developed into one of the strongest organized forces opposed
to the US-Marcos regime during the martial law years.
He was the CPPs highest-ranking leader from its reestablishment until
he was arrested by the Marcos dictatorship in 1977.
Released in 1986 by virtue of then President Corazon Aquinos general
amnesty proclamation for political prisoners, Sison got involved in a
number of legal political activities and even delivered a series of
lectures at UP.
In 1988, he found himself having to apply for political asylum after the
Aquino government cancelled his passport while he was in Europe on a
speaking tour. He has since lived in the Netherlands as an asylum seeker.
Terror listing
In 2002, the CPP-NPA was included by the U.S. Department of State in its
list of foreign terrorist organizations. Sison was also listed as a
foreign terrorist. The Dutch government listed the CPP-NPA and Sison
in its own terror list a day after the US listing.
According to Jan Fermon, one of Sisons lawyers, the Dutch Foreign
Ministry admitted in its website that the inclusion of the CPP-NPA and
Sison in its list of terrorists was done to comply with the request of
the US government. It likewise stated that 150 Dutch companies have
investments in the Philippines and that Holland is one of the major
investors now in the country. It added that the only burden in the
relationship between Holland and the Philippines is the presence of what
they called the communist leadership in Utrecht.
The Netherlands is at present one of the leading US allies in Europe next only to the United Kingdom.
The Council of the European Union followed suit in listing Sison as a
terrorist later that year.
On May 29, 2007, the Council of the European Union decided to retain
Sison in its terrorist list. This decision was annulled by the July 11
verdict of the European Court of First Instance (ECFI).
Insufficient evidence
On Aug. 28 that same year, Sison was arrested by Dutch police in Utrecht
for allegedly ordering the murders of Kintanar and Tabara in 2003 and
2004, respectively an accusation he has denied. His apartment, the
homes of a few other NDFP negotiators, and the NDFP International Office
were raided and several important items like computers, hard disks, and
files related to the NDFPs peace negotiations with the Government of
the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) were taken.
The CPP-NPA leadership in the Philippines has owned up to the killings
of both Kintanar and Tabara, citing them for crimes against the
Revolution.
On Sept. 13, 2007, the District Court of The Hague ordered Sisons
release due to lack of direct and sufficient evidence against him.
On Jan. 18 the next year, however, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service
announced that it would continue its investigation of Sisons alleged
involvement in the killings of Kintanar and Tabara.
Last week, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service finally dismissed the
charges against him for insufficient legal and convincing evidence.
In a press statement released after the dismissal of the charges, Sison
called on the Dutch government to prosecute those who were involved in
assassination attempts against him from 1999 to 2001. He also said he
and his lawyers are considering further legal action against the Dutch
government.
His thoughts on this and other related issues and developments are made
known in this interview with Bulatlat. Following is the full text of the
interview:
How did the charge of inciting murder affect you and your work, both as
NDFP chief political consultant and as ILPS chairperson?
It took away time, attention and resources that I should have devoted to
my work as NDFP chief political consultant and ILPS chairperson. I was
detained for a while and vexed for a long while by the refusal of the
prosecutor to heed the decision of the examining judge to terminate the
investigation. I had to pay attention to my legal defense and had to
have frequent consultations with my Dutch and Filipino lawyers. I was
subjected to character assassination. I suffered moral and material
damages. My wife Julie had to borrow money to pay for the costs of my
legal defense.
What made you confident of the eventual dismissal of the case?
I was confident because of several reasons. First of all, I had nothing
to do with the killing of the security consultants and military assets
Kintanar and Tabara. Secondly, I had excellent Dutch and Filipino
lawyers who undertook my legal defense. Thirdly, I had the abundant
support of the people and organized forces worldwide.
There was no real incriminating evidence against me because of my
innocence. On the other hand, my Filipino lawyers Attys. Romeo T.
Capulong, Rachel F. Pastores and Amylyn Sato of the Public Interest Law
Center collected more than enough evidence and witnesses in my legal
defense.
Attorney Capulong wrote a memorandum pointing out that the Kintanar and
Tabara incidents had been previously used as false specifications in the
charge of rebellion against me and 50 others. The Philippine Supreme
Court had ordered the dismissal of this charge in June 2007. The records
of the police, prosecution and court in the city and region where the
incidents occurred never included me as a suspect.
My Dutch lawyers Michiel Pestman as lead, Victor Koppe and Suus Hopman
of the Bohler, Franken, Koppe and Wijngaarden law firm are topnotch in
Dutch and international criminal law and had the prompt cooperation of
my Filipino lawyers. They were also backed by the consultants Prof. Ties
Prakken who is an authority on criminal law; Jan Fermon, my lead lawyer
in my case against the terrorist blacklist; Bernard Tomlow who is the
lawyer of the NDFP; and Dundar Gurses of the Schoolplein Advocaten.
I have enjoyed the solidarity and support of the people and organized
forces in the Philippines, Netherlands and many other countries.
Immediately after my arrest in August 2007, protest actions against
Dutch embassies and consulates occurred in more than twenty cities of
the world. The International DEFEND Committee, the International League
of Peoples Struggle and all the progressive organizations of Filipinos
in the Philippines and abroad cooperated in bringing about an
international campaign to defend and support me.
Do you think the US, Philippine, and Dutch governments knew all along
that they did not have a strong case against you, but pushed it anyway
as a way of derailing you from your work for the NDFP Peace Panel and
the ILPS?
The false charge of inciting murder was devised by the US, Philippine
and Dutch governments more in order to fish evidence for the bigger
false charge of terrorism against me and others in the NDFP Negotiating
Panel than to derail me from my work for the panel and the ILPS. Of
course, the false charges of murder and terrorism are both meant to
pressure the entire panel towards capitulation in the peace negotiations
with the Manila government.
The three governments have repeatedly used false charges against me in
order to oppress me. They have a common position of waging a relentless
ideological struggle against me. They have used false charges to block
my application for political asylum and residence since 1988; to justify
my inclusion in the so-called terrorist blacklist since 2002; and to
arrest and detain me and conduct the raids in 2007.
They have collaborated in using the false charge of inciting murder as
pretext for arresting me, raiding the NDF information office and homes
of the members, consultants and staffers and seizing documents and
personal properties. These were done as fishing expedition to seek
evidence against all of us to back up the bigger false charge of terrorism.
As a consequence, the Dutch government and the Council of the European
Union are maliciously claiming that the Dutch district and appellate
courts that released me from pre-trial detention in the case of inciting
murder have practically judged me as a terrorist by declaring that
there are indications that I play a prominent role in the Communist
Party of the Philippines which heads or is linked to the New Peoples Army.
The non sequitur use of a passing statement in a court judgment in my
favor on a charge of inciting murder is actually carried by the latest
arguments of the Council of the European Union against my application
for the removal of my name from the terrorist blacklist before the
European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg.
How many assassination attempts were perpetrated against you from 1999
to 2001, and who perpetrated these?
JMS: In the period of 1999 to 2001, certain national police officials
and their assets like Romulo Kintanar sent assassination teams twice to
the Netherlands and made two or three attempts to assassinate me. Even
the Dutch police team investigating the charge against me turned up some
of the witnesses and documentary evidence validating my previous
complaints against the assassination attempts.
But the Dutch Public Prosecution Service has failed to prosecute those
involved in the assassination attempts against me on Dutch soil. Thus, I
have filed before the Dutch appellate court a complaint against the
Dutch prosecution service since June 2008. If my complaint does not
prosper in the Netherlands, I will have to pursue the case up to the
level of the European Court on Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Does the dismissal of the charge of inciting murder make you more
optimistic about having your name stricken off the Council of the
European Unions terrorist list?
On April 30, 2009, there will be the final oral hearing before the
European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg concerning my complaint
against the Council of the European Union for continuing to put my name
in the so-called terrorist blacklist. In view of the dismissal of the
charge of inciting murder, I am optimistic that the European court will
grant my demand for the removal of my name from the blacklist.
As I have earlier pointed out in this interview, the Dutch government
and the Council of the European are trying to misappropriate and misuse
the passing statement of the Dutch district and appellate courts that
there are indications that I play a prominent role in the CPP which
heads the NPA. But it is obvious from said court decisions and the
dismissal of the charge of inciting murder that there is no conclusive
proof that I am Armando Liwanag and that I am culpable for the actions
of the NPA in the killing of the two military agents Kintanar and Tabara
or any other incident.
On the basis of things taken during the raids of August 2007, there may
be indications galore that I have some kind of connection to the CPP and
other allied organizations of the NDFP, including the NPA. But that is
entirely because of the circumstance that I am the chief political
consultant of the NDFP panel negotiating peace with the Manila
government. I receive and study documents of the NDFP and its allied
organizations for the purpose of peace negotiations and not for the
purpose of waging war or anything that may be deemed as terrorism.
If from my arrest and the raids of August 2007 evidence was discovered
that I had committed the crime of terrorism or some other serious crime,
then the Dutch prosecution would have filed the appropriate charge
against me. Under Dutch law, one may be accused of a certain crime and
may be subsequently charged for another crime or other crimes in the
course of investigation. But the pure and simple fact is that the Dutch
prosecution service dismissed the murder charge and found no cause and
no evidence for another charge.
Aside from legal moves against the Dutch government, are you and
Attorney Pestman also considering legal moves against the Philippine
government?
Attorney Pestman and I have not yet considered any legal move against
the Manila government. I can raise the matter to him when I see him
next. And I can communicate with Atty. Romeo T. Capulong. In the
meantime, I am pleased that Bayan (Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, New
Patriotic Alliance) and other groups in the Philippines are calling the
National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales to task and want him to
account for the misappropriation of public funds in fabricating false
charges, false witnesses and false evidence against me.
The Arroyo regime has become utterly notorious throughout the world for
using false charges to demonize its opponents and set them up either for
arrest and detention or for abduction, torture and murder by death
squads. The UN Alston report has exposed these grave human rights
violations and has recommended the dissolution of the Inter-Agency Legal
Action Group (IALAG). But still the human right violations are being
committed with impunity. And IALAG persists.
The Arroyo regime fed the Dutch foreign and justice ministries and the
Dutch police and prosecution with the false charge, false witnesses and
false testimonies against me. But the Dutch Public Prosecution Service
has shamelessly proclaimed to the whole world in a press release that it
cannot pursue the charge of inciting murder against me supposedly
because it has run into a wall of fear preventing witnesses to testify
against me.
That is a big lie. The wall of fear is definitely due to the brutal
Arroyo regime and not due to me. No less than the Dutch Appellate Court
declared in its judgment on my case in 2007 that there is a political
context of unreliable witnesses against me and that it is doubtful
whether I the defendant can get my own witnesses and cross-examine the
witnesses against me in the Philippines. (Bulatlat.com) [1]
Article printed from Bulatlat: http://www.bulatlat.com/main
URL to article:
http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2009/04/04/sison-i-was-confident-of-dismissal-of-raps/
URLs in this post:
[1] (Bulatlat.com): http://www.bulatlat.com/
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