Joma denies rumors of death

MANILA, Philippines — Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison last night denied rumors that he had died.

Sison, who celebrated his 83rd birthday, sent a photo to The STAR showing him holding a planner with his schedule for the week.

“I am still alive. And I am celebrating my birthday today. Those spreading the rumors that I am dead are liars,” he said.

“I have no life-threatening illness, only some inflammations on the legs due to rheumatoid arthritis the other day and yesterday (Monday). These go away in only two to four days after medication,” he added.

Sison maintained that he is in good health, and that he is set to deliver two separate lectures in the coming days on fascism before and after World War II and on the 2022 elections in the Philippines.

“I will also introduce by Zoom the screening of Paloma Polo’s El Barro de la Revolucion in Spain. This is about the current people’s war in the Philippines,” he added.

The military has refused to issue any statement on information circulating on social media regarding Sison’s supposed death. Even Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said he has no information on the matter when asked if such online reports that started circulating last Monday are true.“Maybe because there is no confirmation, no evidence, so we’ll leave it at that,” Lorenzana told The STAR yesterday.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) also said it has no data on Sison’s alleged demise and would not comment on such unverified information based on internet or online posts.

Sison founded the CPP in December 1968 with the New People’s Army (NPA) as its armed wing, which started the now decades-old insurgency in the Philippines.

He fled to Europe in self-exile in 1987 soon after peace talks with the government of then president Corazon Aquino failed.

Sison has since stayed in the Netherlands.

Apart from the war on drugs, the current administration is trying to put an end to the CPP-NPA through both military and non-military initiatives.

President Duterte formed and chairs the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) where the military is still launching offensives against the communist rebel group while encouraging surrenders and trying to address issues supposedly being exploited by the CPP, including poverty and the alleged lack of government projects and programs in the provinces.

No confirmation

Earlier, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said that the rumor that Sison is already dead has not yet been confirmed.

“There is no confirmation on this. But we know he is already frail and is hard of hearing,” Esperon said in a text message to The STAR.

Even as he denied the claims, one of the spokespersons for the NTF-ELCAC celebrated Sison’s supposed death.

Communications Undersecretary Lorraine Marie Badoy said it is one of the strategies, and even a magic trick of Duterte, to have the founder of the CPP dead during the end of his administration.

“Biro n’yo, na-deds si Joma bago matapos ang termino ni PRRD. Eh si PRRD kaya ang chair ng NTF ELCAC. Ang laki naming kunsumisyon kay Joma. Strategy namin para ikamatay nya. Lol,” Badoy said in a public Facebook post, referring to the popular acronym of Duterte.

“So na-end talaga ni PRRD ang halimaw na naglikha ng Communist Armed Conflict sa Pilipinas. Magician talaga boss ko. Kaya ko sya labs, alam nyo? Dami kong na-witness na magic nyan,” she added in a post timestamped last Monday night.

It has to be noted that Badoy was given a gag order by Esperon in April last year for their gaffes in red-tagging community pantries that sprouted during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Esperon ordered Badoy and now retired military general Antonio Parlade to desist from speaking regarding the community pantries after criticism from various sectors over their red-tagging claims. – Romina Cabrera, Artemio Dumlao