Sources say Joma has lost control of NPA

MANILA, Philippines - Communist Party of the Philippines CPP) founding chair Jose Ma. Sison has lost control and leadership of his organization, military intelligence sources said yesterday.

They said his influence over the CPP’s political arm, National Democratic Front (NDF), and fighting arm New People’s Army (NPA), had already diminished.

This is because of the prevailing party leadership rift between him and the Tiamzon couple, Benito and Wilma, they said.

“I think there’s an urgent need now for our national leadership to examine and review their appreciation of Sison,” a military intelligence officer said.

He said Sison now finds himself isolated, with his followers being outnumbered by pro-Tiamzon allies in the communist underground movement.

The Tiamzons are considered hardcore who want to overthrow the democratic government through armed struggle, while Sison favors a strategy that allows the participation of party members in the country’s political exercise “to be able to use vast government resources in toppling the democratic regime.”

President Aquino’s political adviser Ronald Llamas had reportedly met with Sison twice at his home in the Netherlands to convince him to return home and support the government’s reconciliation program.

But the President said Sison could only return after a peace pact between the government and the CPP-NDF-NPA has been forged.

There were reports that he had already slipped back in the country, although Malacañang and the military belied these.

Others claimed “Sison is ill and dying.”

“Why should we focus our efforts on him (Sison) when he is no longer in full control. Saan pupunta ang peace negotiations natin (where will peace negotiations go)?” another military official said.

The Tiamzons, now believed to be in Mindanao, have the full support of their comrades from the former Samahan ng Demokratikong Kabataan (SDK), a rival of Sison’s activist organization Kabataang Makabayan.

The SDKs, who now have the numbers in the CPP-NDF-NPA leadership, were reportedly even moving for Sison’s ouster from the party leadership.