Topic: Philippines

Sison, now serving as NDFP chief political consultant, made the declaration in response to President Duterte’s warning that if the talks fail, it could lead to the resumption of the war between government forces and New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas, the CPP armed wing.

“For sure I shall return to the Philippines after the signing of the interim peace agreement, which is already being prepared for June, and the subsequent mutual approval of the comprehensive agreement on social and economic reforms by the GRP and NDFP either in July or August,” Sison said.

He inspired his comrades to resist by telling them that they were fearless because they were selfless for the people.

At home, I get personal security from friendly relations with neighbors, the intercom and alarm system of the apartment building and the emergency phone number. There are also the routine police patrols in the neighborhood and possibly electronic surveillance of my phone and digicam coverage of my street. The NDF Information Office to which I go very often is located in the city center of Utrecht and is certainly covered by digicam surveillance and police patrols.

Sison in a statement on Saturday, May 26, bared NDFP’s plan for him to meet with Duterte at the signing of the Interim Peace Agreement that includes a ceasefire agreement and the long-standing demand for an amnesty proclamation for around 500 political prisoners in the country.

As initially agreed, President Rodrigo Duterte was set to attend the signing of the interim peace agreement. However, Sison said the government side “backed out and offered” Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea to represent Duterte.

AMSTERDAM—Exiled communist leader Jose Maria Sison on Friday said he was willing to meet with President Rodrigo Duterte either in Oslo, Norway or Hanoi, Vietnam—not in the Philippines—for the signing of an interim peace agreement, which both sides are still trying to hammer out for next month.

For my soonest possible interface with Duterte, the NDFP has considered my meeting at the signing of the Interim Peace Agreement, packaging the ceasefire agreement, amnesty proclamation and the ARRD and NIED sections of CASER either in Oslo or Hanoi. But Duterte has insisted that the meeting be in the Philippines.

However, the chief executive “has said worse things before and has also taken back these things,” said National Democratic Front of the Philippines consultant Rey Casambre.

Julie and I are grateful for the windfall, which cannot fully compensate for the torture and other human rights violations we suffered during the Marcos fascist dictatorship. The most important thing is that the dictatorship is incontrovertibly on historical record as having committed gross and systematic human rights violations