Joma faces 3 murder charges

Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Ma. Sison faces three murder charges even as the government is prepared to extend the hand of peace to communist rebels.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is set to file three counts of murder against Sison and several other rebel leaders for the killing of Cagayan Rep. Rodolfo Aguinaldo in Tuguegarao City in June 2001 and two police officials during a rebel raid on a police station in Quezon province last year.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina said the filing of cases against Sison and his co-accused will be done simultaneously tomorrow by the Philippine National Police (PNP) in the provinces of Cagayan and Quezon.

He said the filing of charges against Sison, who is on self-exile in the Netherlands, will show that the government is determined to prosecute Sison for the crimes he has committed.

"We have a strong case against Sison," Lina told reporters during a press conference.

Based on evidence gathered by the PNP, Sison, using the alias Armando Liwanag, ordered the communist guerrillas to intensify their tactical offensive attacks against the government.

The order, Lina said, formed the basis for the killing of Aguinaldo by the Fortunato Camus command of the New People’s Army (NPA) on June 12, 2001.

The same order was followed in raiding the police station in Lopez, Quezon on Sept. 27, 2002 which led to the death of Superintendent Cesar Santander and policeman Nestor Santiago.

Lina disclosed that the PNP is still in the process of evaluating and building up about six or seven criminal charges against Sison.

"We cannot allow Sison to be committing crimes while he sits at the peace negotiating table," Lina said, recalling that Aguinaldo was killed while the peace talks with the government with communist rebels was going on.

"Sison has even commended the NPA rebels for a job well done in the killing of Aguinaldo," he said.

Aguinaldo was a three-term governor of Cagayan from 1988 to 1998 before he was elected as representative of its third congressional district in 1998.

During the Marcos years, he was a member of the Constabulary Security Unit (CSU), which was credited for the capture of top communist leaders including Sison.

The government’s peace negotiations with the CPP-NPA, which are waging a decades-long insurgency in the Philippines, was suspended when Aguinaldo was assassinated. The government panel withdrew its negotiators in Oslo, Norway to protest the assassination.

Early this month, however, the rebel movement expressed willingness to return to the negotiating table and resume peace talks with the government after an 18-month break.

Sison explained that this was in response to the call of the administration for the country’s political forces to join together under a "unity goverment".

Needed: more vigilance

With the new wave of killings being carried out by the NPA, the government has mobilized its resources to neutralize urban guerrilla hit squads, whose targets were former rebels who surrendered to the government.

Its latest victim was former NPA chieftain Romulo Kintanar, who was gunned down by suspected communist assassins inside a Japanese restaurant in Quezon City last Thursday.

Three Cabinet members, a military colonel and 20 other high-profile personalities were reportedly next on the list of those marked for liquidation by a special hit squad recently formed by the CPP.

Lina said that with this development, the NPA wants to send a signal that those who will leave the rebel movement will be killed.

Those who are responsible in the killing of Kintanar will have to face the consequences of their act," Lina warned.