This statement was released by the Political Committee of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (U.S.) on Sept. 3, 2007.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation condemns in the strongest terms the Aug. 27, 2007 arrest of Prof. Jose Maria Sison and the repression directed against other progressive Filipino activists and organizations by the government of the Netherlands.
Dutch authorities have filed trumped-up charges alleging that Prof. Sison ordered the killing Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara, former leaders of the popular movement in the Philippines, who allegedly had been collaborating with the government and engaging in corrupt activities.
The International Committee DEFEND has accused the Dutch government of abusing the 68-year-old Sison. His lawyer, Michiel Pestman, said that Sison is being kept in solitary confinement, denied visits from his wife, denied warm clothing, denied access to his medicines and access to his own doctor, and denied access to newspapers and TV.
Sison was previously a victim of torture when he was held as a political prisoner from 1977-86, under the bloody, U.S.-backed dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. Threatened with assassination, he went into exile in the Netherlands shortly thereafter.
The hidden hand of U.S. imperialism is undoubtedly behind the arrest of Sison and the seizure of the computers, files and other materials belonging the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, the International League of People’s Struggles and other progressive organizations. Sison serves as chief consultant to the NDFP and as chairperson of the ILPS.
For the past 109 years, the United States has dominated and exploited the Philippines—as an official colony until 1946, and unofficially ever since.
While the great majority of Filipinos live in poverty and millions have been forced to emigrate to find work, U.S. corporations have reaped tens of billions of dollars in profits from agri-business, mining, industry and military sales. The Pentagon has trained and equipped the Philippine military to carry out ruthless counterinsurgency operations against all Filipinos who fight for true independence and self-determination.
Imperialist strategy
The Philippine military is one of the largest recipients of U.S. military aid, despite the fact that the country faces virtually no external military threat. The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) function as an extension of U.S. military power protecting domestic and foreign corporate exploiters.
Among the imperialist exploiters are the United States, Japan and the Netherlands. Dutch corporate interests in the country are growing rapidly.
Much of the great wealth of the Netherlands is the product of more than three centuries of brutal colonial domination of the Philippines’ neighbor, Indonesia, formerly known as the Dutch East Indies.
The Dutch ruling circles hope that Sison’s arrest will kill two birds with one stone: (1) assist the United States, the AFP and the corrupt Philippines government in their campaign to destroy the popular movement in the Philippines; and (2) win new economic concessions for Dutch corporations.
While Sison is being held on false charges, more than 800 political activists and leaders have been murdered in the Philippines during Arroyo’s reign. Independent investigations have concluded that most, if not all, of these murders have been carried out by the AFP.
No one has been arrested for these crimes. They are part of a CIA-designed low-intensity war strategy aimed at crushing the civilian and armed resistance movements in the country.
The arrest of Sison is also part of this plan. He was the founding leader of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army. These roles ended with his 1977 arrest and imprisonment.
Gregorio Rosal, spokesperson for the CPP has warned that the Arroyo administration is seeking to extradite Sison in order to “set him up for the kill by its death squads.” There is no extradition treaty at present between the Netherlands and the Philippines.
At a three-hour court hearing on August 30, the judge ordered Sison held for an additional two weeks in solitary confinement, despite evidence that his lawyer termed “ludicrous.” The next hearing is set for Sept. 7.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation joins with hundreds of progressive organizations around the world in demanding the immediate release of Jose Maria Sison and an end to abusive treatment as long as he is in captivity.
Free Jose Maria Sison now!
