By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chief Political Consultant
National Democratic Front of the Philippines
12 March 2007
So long as the Arroyo regime remains in power, there will be a constant flow of false charges of murder and robbery against me, whenever the New People’s Army inflicts death casualties and seizes arms and other military equipment in tactical offensives against the military and police forces in the Philippines.
Hundreds of such complaints have been filed against me by the Philippine military and police before government prosecutors and judges. These complaints amount to nothing but propaganda rubbish from the desperately isolated and brutal Arroyo regime. Quite a number of these cases have been either outrightly dismissed or archived by the relatively more sensible prosecutors and judges, with or without the representation of my lawyers, because of the sheer lack of evidence and the lack of jurisdiction over my person..
The recent internationally reported charge of multiple murder in Leyte against Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, myself and 52 others and the more recent charge of murder and robbery in Masbate are part of the hundreds of false charges made against me. Under the direction of national security adviser Norberto Gonzales, the Inter-Agency Legal Action Group is under orders to complete 1500 false charges against me before the end of the May 2007 elections. What a waste of public money for producing propaganda trash!
The latest move of the Philippine National Police (PNP) is to propagandize its supposed request to the International Criminal Police Commission/Organization (Interpol) to issue “red notices” to seek the arrest of myself and the NDFP negotiating panel chairperson Luis Jalandoni for the purpose of extradition to the Philippines on the basis of a valid judicial warrant. But there is no extradition treaty between The Netherlands and the Philippines!
I am used to false charges that come and go These are cheaply fabricated by the Manila government. Remember that the 1988 charge of subversion against me was nullified by the repeal of the Anti-Subversion Law in 1992 and that the 1991 charge of multiple murder against me was dismissed by the Manila prosecutors in 1994 as something based on sheer speculation. In 1998 the secretary of justice of the Ramos government certified that there was no pending criminal charge against me. But since 2003 the Arroyo regime has resumed the practice of fabricating false charges against me.
On my part, I am not at all worried by the false charges being made against me by the military and police minions of the Arroyo regime. I laugh off all of them. Below are the strong factual and legal grounds for my confidence:
First, the charges are so patently false, malicious and politically motivated.
Second, the whole world knows that the leadership of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the command of the NPA are in the Philippines and not in The Netherlands.
Third, I am protected by Article 3 and entirety of the European Convention on Human Rights and Refugee Convention.
Fourth, there is no extradition treaty between the Dutch and Philippine governments.
Fifth, under Philippine law itself, I am outside of the custody and jurisdiction of the Philippine government and cannot be arraigned and tried on any charge.
The Arroyo regime is trying to show off that it can put down its Filipino critics anywhere in the world. But it only succeeds in exposing its callous intolerance for my exercise of the freedom of speech and its contempt for fundamental democratic rights. It has ignored the findings and conclusions of fact-finding missions by human rights organizations, international civic organizations, religious organizations and the UN special rapporteurs on various aspects of human rights.
The Arroyo regime is intensifying its campaign of vilification against me in a futile attempt to counter the impending Permanent People’s Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, from March 21 to 25, which shall try the case of the Filipino people against the Arroyo regime and its imperialist accomplices headed by the US, on the three major charges of human rights violations, economic plunder and transgression of Philippine national sovereignty. The case has been filed by families of the victims of human rights violations, human rights organizations, Bayan and the Ecumenical Bishops’ Forum among others.###
