NDFP denounces Arroyo amnesty offer,
denounces obvious attempt to justify Prof. Sison's extradition
NDFP International Information Office
The NDFP denounced the Arroyo regime's recently declared amnesty proclamation as an obvious attempt to justify a request for deportation of Prof. Jose Maria Sison, the Chief Political Consultant of the NDFP Negotiating Panel, from the Netherlands to the Philippines.
NDFP denounces Arroyo amnesty offer,
denounces obvious attempt to justify Prof. Sison's extradition
NDFP International Information Office
The NDFP denounced the Arroyo regime's recently declared amnesty proclamation as an obvious attempt to justify a request for deportation of Prof. Jose Maria Sison, the Chief Political Consultant of the NDFP Negotiating Panel, from the Netherlands to the Philippines.
Chairperson Luis Jalandoni of the NDFP Negotiating Panel said that, like previous amnesty proclamations, Mrs. Arroyo's version will suffer the same fate as the others, falling flat on its face as "just another money-making scheme for corruption, not only by her and her minions in the cabinet oversight committee for internal security but also by her chosen military and local officials. Alleged surrenderees will be manufactured, provided with broken down weapons, and paid measly sums for the weapons and so-called livelihood projects. Huge amounts will instead be pocketed by these Arroyo officials."
"But there is a more sinister aspect to Mrs. Arroyo's proclamation," Jalandoni added. "It is an obvious attempt to justify a request by the regime to have Prof. Sison deported to the Philippines. Jesus Dureza, head of the GRP's office of the presidential assistant for the peace process, has already let the cat out of the bag with his statement that Prof. Sison is also covered by the so-called amnesty proclamation."
Prof. Sison is currently in detention in The Netherlands on trumped-up charges of alleged murder. He was arrested in Utrecht, 28 August 2007, for allegedly ordering the deaths of Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara. Dutch authorities are using evidence that the GRP Supreme Court, on 1 June 2007, has already declared of no value against Prof. Sison and 50 others, even admonishing justice secretary Raul Gonzalez and his prosecutors for undertaking politically motivated investigations and for prostituting the justice system.
There are currently no charges in any GRP court for the alleged murders that Prof. Sison is being accused of. And even if there were, legal experts say that these alleged crimes are subsumed under the political offense of rebellion over which Dutch judicial authorities have no jurisdiction.
Jalandoni said that there is growing international condemnation of the Dutch government for the arrest of Prof. Sison, and the raids on the NDFP office and houses of Filipino political refugees. He further said that the continuing political persecution of Prof. Sison would eventually prove costly for the Arroyo regime.
"No freedom loving individual believes that Mrs. Arroyo is sincere in her overtures for peace and reconciliation. The Arroyo regime has been found guilty of crimes against humanity by the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal Second Session on the Philippines last March 2007 for widespread and systematic violations of human rights in the extrajudicial executions of about 900 unarmed civilians and the disappearances of more than 200 others. It has also refused to resume the formal peace talks with the NDFP within the framework of The Hague Joint Declaration by repeatedly putting forward the demand for the capitulation of the revolutionary forces."
"Civil libertarians, human rights advocates and international supporters of the Filipino people's continuing struggle for a just and lasting peace condemn what has been done to Prof. Sison with the same vehemence and outrage that they protest against the relentless extrajudicial killings in the Philippines," Jalandoni concluded. (NDFP-IIO)