PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

US, Arroyo regimes are the biggest threats to Sison's life -- CPP
January 26, 2005

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) deplored the Arroyo regime's campaign for the Dutch government to deny asylum status to CPP founding chair and NDFP chief political consultant Jose Ma. Sison, and force his return to the Philippines.

CPP spokesperson Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal took exception to a statement yesterday by Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo who left on a mission to The Netherlands to convince the Dutch government that Prof. Sison "need not fear political persecution in the Philippines" and was therefore not in need of the protection extended by the Dutch government to political exiles.

"It is in fact the Arroyo regime that has been the biggest threat to Prof. Sison's life and liberty," said Rosal. "It has been actively asking the European Council and other governments to designate him as a 'terrorist', thereby setting him up as a target for persecution and even assassination," he added.

"By constantly referring to him as a 'terrorist', the Arroyo and Bush governments are inciting their fascist armed forces and inciting zealots aligned with US imperialism to harm Prof. Sison," Rosal added.

Rosal said that Romulo's latest mission to The Netherlands was an insidious scheme to completely strip Sison of legal protection and force his repatriation to either make him stand trial in the Philippines for various trumped-up charges of terrorism or facilitate his extrajudicial execution by armed minions of the Bush and Arroyo regimes.

As a political refugee, Sison has been living in exile in The Netherlands since 1987. His status has been in limbo since 2001, when the US included him in its list of "foreign terrorists." Succumbing to US pressure, authorities in The Netherlands have denied Sison's application for political asylum and withdrawn stipends and other benefits due Sison under Dutch law but have not officially rescinded his political refugee status.

Reference:
Anne Buenaventura
Media Officer
Cellphone Number: +63910-240-3553



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