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By Francis Earl A. Cueto Reporter
The Philippine government will
ensure the safety of Dutch diplomats and their nationals here in the
country, Foreign Affairs Spokesman Claro Cristobal said.
He assured them that the
government is monitoring the situation of detained communist leader
Jose Maria Sison and said he is not being mistreated in the
Netherlands.
He added that the government will
exercise every possible measure to protect Dutch diplomats and
nationals against reprisals by the New People’s Army (NPA) and
sympathizers of Sison.
The Netherlands Foreign Ministry
had asked the government to ensure the safety of its nationals
staying in the country from becoming casualties from possible
attacks by the NPA.
Cristobal debunked news reports
that Sison is being poorly treated at his detention cell in the
Netherlands. Sison was allegedly being given shabby treatment while
in detention, and not allowed to drink his medicines needed for his
ailments.
Sison was ordered detained in
solitary confinement, without access to the media or visitors. He
was also reportedly denied the right to bring with him his
prescription medicines.
“No, the Netherlands is one of
the countries in the world that are so strict about human rights,”
Cristobal clarified.
The Dutch government had advised
its citizens against traveling to the Philippines because of
possible attacks from the NPA and sympathizers of Sison.
The Dutch Embassy in Makati has
been closed since Wednesday as a precaution against protests against
the arrest of Sison in Utrecht on charges of multiple murders.
Sison has been in self-exile in
Utrecht, the Netherlands, for more than two decades. He was accused
of ordering the murder of two former associates Romulo Kintanar and
Arturo Tabara.
The Dutch court on Friday ordered
the detention of Sison for 14 more days after preliminary hearings
conducted on the charges against him.
The peace talks collapsed in 2004
when the National Democratic Front pulled out of the negotiating
table to protest the United States’ inclusion of the Communist
Party of the Philippines and the NPA on its list of foreign
terrorist organizations.
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