NO ARREST FOR SISON, RED LEADERS DURING TALKS

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said all the pending warrants of arrest against them will be suspended, in case the peace talks resume

MANILA -- Communist founder Jose Maria “Joma” Sison and other communist leaders who are facing arrest will enjoy temporary liberty upon their return to the Philippines for the possible resumption of peace talks, Malacañang said on Sunday.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo guaranteed that President Rodrigo Duterte will order the suspension of arrest order issued on Sison and other members of the Communist Party of the Philippines’ (CPP) political arm, the National Democratic Front (NDF), once they agree to go back home for the revival of peace negotiations with the government.

“Hindi naman sila aarestuhin. At iyan naman ay pinapangako ni Presidente. Sususpendihin ang lahat ng mga pending warrant of arrest laban sa kanila kung may pag-uusap (They will not be arrested. The President is promising that. All the pending warrants of arrest against them will be suspended, in case the peace talks resume),” Panelo told dzIQ.

The assurance was made after Duterte announced on Thursday that he will be sending Bello to the Netherlands to discuss with Sison his administration’s plan to give the communist movement another chance for a dialogue that will pave the way for the crafting of a peace deal.

On August 28, the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 32 ordered the arrest of Sison, his wife, and 36 others for their supposed involvement in the socalled “Inopacan massacre”, the 1980 mass purging of communist rebels suspected to have links with the military in Inopacan, Leyte. No bail was recommended for the accused.

Sison has been in self-exile with his wife, Juliet, in the Netherlands since 1987.

The Manila RTC Branch 32 in January 2018 also ordered the re-arrest of communist leaders Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, following the termination of peace negotiations between the national government and the communist party.

The Tiamzon couple and Silva were released from detention in August 2016 to join the peace negotiations as NDF consultants.

Duterte on Nov. 23, 2017 signed Proclamation 360, which formally scrapped peace talks with the NDF, following the series of attacks staged by the communists’ armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), against the government troops and civilians.

On December 5, 2017 or barely two weeks the peace talks was scrapped, the President inked Proclamation 374, which classifies the CPP and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), as terror organizations because of their supposed commission of crimes that are “against the Filipino people, against humanity, and against the law of the nations.”

The CPP-NPA has also been listed as a terror group by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

Hindi naman sila aarestuhin. At iyan naman ay pinapangako ni Presidente. Sususpendihin ang lahat ng mga pending warrant of arrest laban sa kanila kung may pag-uusap

SALVADOR PANELO

Presidential Spokesperson