PH peace group assails Dutch govt. for sheltering terrorist leader Sison
A PHILIPPINE-based peace group has assailed the government of the Netherlands (also known as Holland) for continuing to give shelter and comfort to top Philippine terrorist leaders, particularly, Jose Maria Sison, founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).
In an “open letter” addressed to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, thru Dutch ambassador to the Philippines, Robert Brinks, Ernesto Angeles Alcanzare, president of ‘Yes For Peace-Bayanihan ng Bayan (Y4P-BnB), said they were forced to call the attention of The Netherlands authorities due to the “extremist violence” pervading in the Philippines “and to appeal to the Dutch government for appropriate action to address this violence,” given The Netherlands’ “significant role” in resolving the issue.
Specifically, the group is asking why, despite being part of the European Union (EU), which had designated Sison as a terrorist and the CPP-NPA as terrorist groups, The Netherlands continue to harbor Sison.
“Sison is currently on Dutch soil and is safely ensconced under Dutch protection for reasons we do not understand,” Alcanzare said.
“No less than the European Union, in February of this year (2021), renewed the terror listing of the CPP-NPA through EU Council Implementing Regulation 2021/138, based on numerous evidenced reports of crimes committed by these groups against our (Filipinos) poor and powerless.
As more Filipinos began to wake up to the true, terrorist nature, of the CPP-NPA, the Dutch Embassy in Makati City has become the sight of increasing protest actions by pro-democracy and pro-peace groups, including organizations of parents whose children ended up as fighters of the NPA.
“In fact, so vicious are their (CPP-NPA) abuses that the UN (United Nations), in the UN Secretary General’s Report on Children in Armed Conflict dated June 20, 2019 (A/73/907-S/2019-509), has listed the NPA alongside such groups as Daesh, ISIS, Taliban and Al-Qaeda,” the letter continued.
“Is it within Dutch laws to shelter leaders of an organization that the EU has declared as a terrorist group,” Y4P-BnB asked further.
“The last time we looked, The Netherlands is a member of the EU,” the group pointed out.
“So, why does it continue to harbor a terrorist in the person of CPP founding father Sison?
“What will it take to convince the Dutch government to cancel the asylum it granted to Sison and other CPP leaders who are with him,” the group wanted to know.
Sison has managed to get asylum from The Netherlands, one year after his release from prison in 1986, after the CPP helped in the downfall of the Marcos administration.
Sison said he is not “safe” in the Philippines and would be likely killed because of his political beliefs, amidst the alleged continuing political violence in the country.
But as Y4P-BnB pointed out, the Dutch government should realize that Sison is the “main fomenter and orchestrator” of political violence in the Philippines “which he directs by ‘remote control’ from Utrecht.”
Utrecht is one of the key cities in The Netherlands where Sison has been staying along with other members of the CPP Central Committee.
As more Filipinos began to wake up to the true, terrorist nature, of the CPP-NPA, the Dutch Embassy in Makati City has become the sight of increasing protest actions by pro-democracy and pro-peace groups, including organizations of parents whose children ended up as fighters of the NPA.
These protest actions all called for the Dutch government to cancel Sison’s asylum and surrender him to Philippine authorities for trial on the numerous criminal cases he is presently facing in local courts along with his fellow terrorist leaders.
“We dread the thought that Philippine history will judge The Netherlands—if it has not already done so—as an accomplice in the spread of terrorism in our country by coddling its main proponent,” Alcanzare warned.
