EU denies Joma’s plea to lift CPP’s terror tag

The Court of First Instance of the European Communities Court of Justice has dismissed three cases filed before it by communist leader Jose Maria Sison seeking his removal from the European Union’s terrorist list.

In a report to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the Philippine embassy in Brussels said the three court cases challenging Sison’s inclusion on the EU terrorist list were dismissed on April 26 as being "unfounded" and "inadmissible."

Sison, the founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), filed the cases on Feb. 6, 2003 and demanded that the EU reveal to him the identity of the states that provided the basis for his inclusion on the EU terrorist list. He also demanded the surrender of all documents related to his listing.

"It must be accepted that the effectiveness of the fight against terrorism presupposes that information held by the public authorities on persons or entities suspected of terrorism is kept secret so that information remains relevant and enables effective action to be taken," the court said. "Consequently, disclosure to the public of the document requested would necessarily have undermined the public interest in relation to public security."

The Court of First Instance also ordered Sison to pay all court costs.

The CPP and its military wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), both remain on the list of foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) identified by the US State Department in its latest edition of "Country Reports on Terrorism 2004," a document previously titled "Patterns of Global Terrorism."

The Abu Sayyaf bandit group also remains on the US FTO list.

The inclusion of any group identified by the US as a terrorist organization in the FTO list denies members of these groups from receiving financial assistance and blocks any assets they may have worldwide.

The US report said external aid to the CPP-NPA is not extensive.

The report also said the CPP-NPA has a strength of 9,000 fighters, though it remains vague on the financial resources of the group as Sison remains self-exiled in the Netherlands.

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo earlier said Sison will remain in the Netherlands because no third country has agreed to receive him.

Ocampo’s statement is contrary to earlier information released by the Philippine National Police (PNP) that the Dutch government is poised to deport Sison for his inclusion on the EU terrorist list.

Ocampo said there is no change in Sison’s status in the Netherlands, even as the Dutch government is preparing terrorism charges and expulsion proceedings against Sison.

He said the Netherlands’ justice department has rejected Sison’s application for political asylum there but is bound by the commitment not to throw Sison out.

"The situation has been that way for a long time," Ocampo said. "The Dutch government’s justice department has been rejecting him (Sison) but the Council of ministers are bound by the commitment that they can’t allow somebody who is seeking refuge in the Netherlands to be sent away if there’s no country that will accept him."

He added that the information revealed by PNP Intelligence Director Roberto Delfin that the Dutch government is poised to expel Sison is "propaganda."

The Dutch government has frozen the accounts and assets of the CPP-NPA in the Netherlands in response to the FTOs of Washington and the EU.

The NPA was listed on the FTO lists for their alleged atrocities during so-called tactical guerrilla operations.

Reports also said Sison is considering whether to seek asylum in China if he is expelled by the Dutch government.

The PNP said the Dutch government confirmed that Sison is indeed using the nom de guerre Armando Liwanag.

It will be recalled that the CPP-NPA received marching orders to intensify the communist insurgency in the Philippines from Liwanag.