By FIDEL V. AGCAOILI
Chairperson, NDFP Human Rights Committee
PNP director for intelligence General Roberto Delfin recently announced that two months hence the Dutch government would make formal charges of terrorism against Prof. Jose Maria Sison and deport him to a country other than the Philippines. Subsequently, press secretary Ignacio Bunye publicly called on Prof. Sison to return to the Philippines.
These two high officials are engaged in disinformation and coordinated propaganda against Prof. Sison. They wish to conjure the illusion that he is completely helpless and that he would soon be compelled to leave the Netherlands.
The truth of the matter is that Prof. Sison is the complainant in several cases against the European Council and the Dutch government for violating his human rights in connection with the so-called terrorist listing.
The Dutch authorities have not formally charged him with any criminal offense because they want to prevent him from invoking the right to due process (Article 6 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) and from looking at the secret dossiers being unjustly used against him.
Prof. Sison cannot be deported from the Netherlands because he is a judicially recognized political refugee and is under the protection of the Refugee Convention and Article 3 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR).
Article 3 of the ECHR prohibits the expulsion of Prof. Sison to any country in which he faces the threat of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The Philippines would be such a country where human rights violations are rampant and escalating and where a suggestion to assassinate Prof. Sison is discussed at the highest level of government.
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines has in its hands reliable information that national security adviser Norberto Gonzales suggested the assassination of Prof. Sison in a national security meeting of the cabinet, with GRP President in attendance. NDFP negotiating panel chairperson Luis Jalandoni has already exposed the evil suggestion of Gonzales.
However, the main reason why Prof. Sison is not yet returning to the Philippines is because the NDFP has requested him to stay on in Europe and remain the chief political consultant of the NDFP in peace negotiations with the GRP. This is in conformity with the longstanding GRP-NDFP agreement that the peace negotiations be in a neutral venue abroad.
