The United States has tagged the Philippines Communist Party’s leader and his organisation as a ‘terrorist group’ which may spoil Jose Ma. Sison’s expected return to the Philippines.
An ‘open door’ invitation to return to the Philippines was given by Presidential-elect Rodrigo Duterte to Sison last month. A recent trip by one of his cabinet members has also given hope for Duterte to allow Sison to return without issue.
Duterte wants Sison – who was the president elect’s tutor at university – to come home and talk peace in the Philippines, but two weeks ago the Philippines Army tagged the New People’s Army and its organisation as a ‘terrorist group’ due to the overall toll of murders, kidnappings and theft the organisation has caused.
President-elect Duterte has also given up four seats in his cabinet to communist members and organisers – sending alarm through the country who just elected him.
Jose Ma. Sison has been in exile in the Netherlands for almost 30 years and his return is now in question seeing as the US State Department has officially classified the Community Party of the Philippines (CCP) and the NPA as “terrorist organisations.”
The trick is there are no direct flights between the Netherlands and Manila – the possibility of the US arresting Sison in any given airport that he lands in is highly probable.
Sison is most likely to fly via KLM which would have a connecting flight in Taipei, Taiwan – where the US would be likely to present an arrest warrant against Sison.
If the arrest would take place in Taipei, Sison would be jailed in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
Some hope that the US will agree to allow Sison to travel back to the Philippines and sit down with president-elect Duterte and talk peace.
Duterte was Jose Sison’s student at the Lyceum – Duterte admitted he was a member of the Kabataan Makabayan during martial law – some suspect he was in fact a member of the NPA, though that has never been proven.
Duterte’s cabinet member Fidel Agcaoili defended the practice of the NPA on collecting ‘revolutionary taxes’ In past years Duterte told the people of Mindanao to “just pay them” as if what they were doing was legal.
Agcaoili said that the NPA’s “taxation” method is a direct component of the revolutionary movement.
He went on to say how the NPA uses the so-called “taxation” but like most, not many were listening or believing any of it.