By LUIS G. JALANDONI
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) deplores the fact that the Council of the European Union has persecuted Prof. Jose Maria Sison for more than four years by serially blacklisting as “terrorists” the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), New People’s Army (NPA) and the NDFP chief political consultant Prof. Jose Maria Sison. By blacklisting as “terrorists” the CPP, NPA and Prof. Sison, the Council has unwittingly assisted the ultra-reactionary forces in the Philippines in sabotaging the peace negotiations between the NDFP and the Government of the Philippines (GRP) and in perpetrating gross and systematic human rights violations.
By LUIS G. JALANDONI
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) deplores the fact that the Council of the European Union has persecuted Prof. Jose Maria Sison for more than four years by serially blacklisting as “terrorists” the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), New People’s Army (NPA) and the NDFP chief political consultant Prof. Jose Maria Sison.
The 11 July 2007 judgment of the European Court of First Instance (ECFI), which annuls the blacklisting of Prof. Sison and the punitive sanctions imposed on him, clearly rules that the Council of the EU has violated his right to defense, has failed to comply with the obligation to state reasons for the blacklisting and has infringed his right to effective judicial protection.
The ECFI has declared that the right to defense is a fundamental principle of community law in the European Union. The Council of the EU continues to violate the rights and freedoms of Prof. Sison by blacklisting him on 28 June 2007 on the basis of the same lies already debunked before the ECFI and without giving him a fair hearing.
The Council does not refer to any specific act of terrorism but makes the false blanket charge that Prof. Sison is culpable for terrorism by being allegedly chairman of the CPP and head of the NPA. The Council should pay attention to the 2 July 2007 ruling of the Supreme Court in the Philippines that has rendered null and void the charge that he is CPP chairman and NPA head and that he is liable for rebellion.
The highest Dutch administrative court Raad van State ruled in 1992 and 1995 that Prof. Sison is a political refugee under Article 1 A of the Refugee Convention and the Legal Uniformity Chamber (Rechtseenheidkamer, REK) ruled likewise in 1997. The Council of the EU should cease to misrepresent these Dutch court decisions on his asylum case as rulings that he is a “terrorist”.
By blacklisting as “terrorists” the CPP, NPA and Prof. Sison, the Council has unwittingly assisted the ultra-reactionary forces in the Philippines in sabotaging the peace negotiations between the NDFP and the Government of the Philippines (GRP) and in perpetrating gross and systematic human rights violations. These include the extrajudicial killing of more than 860 legal activists, the abduction of about 200 and the forced displacement of more than one million people under Oplan Bantay Laya I and II.
We demand that the Council of the EU stop the blacklisting of the CPP, NPA and Prof. Sison. It must give due respect to the CPP and NPA as forces of a genuine national liberation movement that are committed to uphold human rights and international humanitarian law. It must stop the persecution of Prof. Sison and give way to justice. Thus, the conditions can be improved for resuming the formal talks in the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations.
