House of Lords takes on Joma’s ‘terror’ tag

The global campaign of the country’s underground communist and mainstream militant movements against the "terrorist" tag on self-exiled rebel leader, Jose Ma. Sison, has recently attracted the United Kingdom’s House of Lords.

According to the Committee to Defend Filipino Progressives in Europe (Committee-Defend), defrocked Catholic priest Luis Jalandoni, chair of the communist-led National Democratic Front peace panel and head of its international relations office, was even further asked to discuss the issue before the chamber’s meeting held early this month at the Moses Room of the House of Parliament in Westminster, London. The gathering, with the theme, "This War of Terror Threatens Us All," was hosted by Lord Rea of UK’s Labor Party, and called for by the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers and the Campaign Against Criminalizing Communities.

Committee-Defend said that Jalandoni discussed before the meeting "the increasing US military intervention in the Philippines," which the NDF leader stated has been manifested in the inclusion of Sison and the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) in Washington ‘s list of "foreign terrorists."

Jalandoni insisted that the CPP-NPA-NDF is a "legitimate revolutionary organization," even as he pointed out that Sison is even the rebel peace panel’s "chief political consultant." He further told England’s leaders that Sison is a "recognized political refugee" in Europe, and is therefore entitled to "absolute protection from torture, and inhuman and degrading treatment."

It was in August last year when the US listed the CPP and NPA as "terrorist" groups. In October, the 15-nation European Union (EU) included Sison and the CPP-NPA in its list of "terrorist threats." This resulted to the suspension of the social, health and housing benefits, as well as the monthly allowances, then being extended by the Dutch government to the communist leader.

According to Jalandoni, Sison’s lawyers have already thrice asked the EU Council Common to make public the basis of its decision to tag him as "terrorist." However, the EU leadership supposedly refused this, as Jalandoni said that Sison was told that "the reasons were confidential." Because of this, Sison filed petitions against his inclusion in the EU’s "terrorist list" before the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg and at the Dutch courts in Utrecht and Rotterdam.

The communist leader went in self-exile together with his wife, Juliet, and son, Jasm, 15 years ago after the collapse of peace talks between the NDF and the then Aquino administration. He said that should he return to the country, he may be subjected to "political persecution," and could even be assassinated by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Attempts to jumpstart negotiations with the NDF bogged down in February, as rebel leaders demanded that Malacañang should first lift the "terrorist" tag on Sison and the CPP-NPA, and further rejected Mrs. Arroyo’s so-called "final peace agreement," which they said was a "document of surrender."