Pinoy Freeman: Juliet de Lima-Sison said arrest of Joma was politically-motivated

Joma's wife: 'Psywar ops' won't end armed struggle
abs-cbnNEWS.com (8/29/2007 9:55:47 PM)

The wife of the founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) believes that her husband’s arrest is an international “psywar operation” against the entire progressive movement in the Philippines, ANC reported Wednesday.

Juliet de Lima-Sison said that the initiative for the arrest of Jose Maria Sison was made by the Philippine government. It was politically-motivated, she added.

She said it can be considered as a part of an international "psy-war operation" against all progressive movements.

“That is my conjecture because there have been pressure from the Philippine government for the NDF (National Democratic Front) to return to the peace talks on the condition that they renounce the armed struggle,” Mrs. Sison said.

She said the Arroyo administration is hoping that Sison’s arrest would pave the way to end the communist rebel insurgency in the Philippines.

“Yes. I think that is the effect that they want to have but I’m quite sure that the progressive movement, considering that the situation in the Philippines is so bad, that the progressive movement and the revolutionary movement would progress and develop forward,” she said.

Mrs. Arroyo earlier gave a deadline to the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police to end the communist insurgency and armed rebellion in in three years or until she steps down from office in 2010.

“I don’t think Arroyo will ever succeed in ending the revolutionary movement in three years,” Mrs. Sison said.

The self-exiled communist leader was arrested Tuesday by Dutch authorities for allegedly giving orders from his residence in The Netherlands to have two of former associates killed.

The two men -- Arturo Tabara and Romulo Kintanar -- had split with Sison's CPP-New People's Army. They were gunned down in separate gangland-style assassinations in 2003 and 2004.

Mrs. Sison said she has not been given the opportunity to speak with her husband personally. Sison, she said, is being held “incommunicado”.

“I don’t know where he is. I’m just told that he is in a detention facility in ......that's all the police told me. And then he was only allowed to see his lawyer and only one lawyer at a time. That's all I know,” said Mrs. Sison.

Sison went to precinct for appointment
She said that a member of the Dutch police called up her husband and arranged for an appointment on Tuesday regarding an alleged “development” on a complaint filed by Sison with officers in 2001.

“Ang alam lang ni Jo (Sison) na complaint with the police that he filed ay tungkol sa assassination team sent to the Netherlands noong 2000 laban sa kanya. He assumed na iyon ang pag-uusapan nila (The only complaint that Jo knows is the one regarding the assassination team sent to the Netherlands in 2000. He assumed that was the agenda),” she said.

Sison personally went to the police station for the appointment with the police together with NDF chief negotiator Luis Jalandoni and a lawyer.

“Doon sinabi sa kanya that they were taking him into custody. Siya mismo ang pumunta sa presinto on an appointment (It was there that they told him that they were taking him into custody. He, himself, went to the precinct on an appointment),” she said.

In Manila, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez admitted Wednesday that the Philippine government had been working for Sison's arrest for a year. He said the government has been "very vocal" about its intentions in putting Sison behind bars.

The justice chief, however, said he was surprised with the arrest made by Dutch authorities Tuesday. "We were just notified by the Dutch police that he was arrested," he said.

Gonzalez said the Department of Justice will try to bring Sison to the Philippines and try him in the country for his crimes. He, however, said there are have been no assurances from the Dutch government about the possibility of Sison's extradition.

The NDF said in a statement that Sison’s arrest was a violation of his rights and that the charges against him were fabricated.

"With the arrest of Professor Sison based on false charges, (President) Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has succeeded in extending her long fascist arms abroad, courtesy of the Dutch authorities," the NDF said.

"The arrest of Professor Sison and the raids conducted are bound to terminate the ongoing peace negotiations between the NDF and the Arroyo government."

It said, however, that it was awaiting final instructions from the negotiating panel before formally calling off the talks, which have been stalled since 2004.

Security forces on alert
The AFP and the PNP have raised their alert levels in anticipation of retaliatory attacks from the armed wing of the CPP.

“We have raised our alert status to heightened alert so that our regional police offices particularly our police stations could be on guard to prevent any retaliatory attack that may be undertaken by the CPP-NPA due to the development of the arrest of Mr. Jose Ma. Sison,” said Avelino Razon, Deputy Chief for Administration of the PNP.

Security forces have already been preparing for another possible destabilization plot that may occur against the Arroyo administration during the promulgation of plunder and perjury charges filed against former president Joseph Estrada, the chief of the AFP National Capital Region Command said Monday.

Maj. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino said mass actions and protests that could lead to another "EDSA 3" are being anticipated during the promulgation of the cases.

"We talked about those possibilities. I am sure the security forces are now taking the appropriate measures," said Secretary Jesus Dureza, government's chief negotiator in the stalled peace process with the insurgents.