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By Katrice R. Jalbuena,
Reporter
As the Dutch government continues
investigating Jose Maria “Joma” Sison for murder, he can at
least be certain authorities there will not make him leave The
Netherlands, an envoy said.
Sison is “still a suspect in a
murder investigation,” said Richard Brinks, The Netherlands
ambassador to the Philippines, told The Manila Times during a
roundtable interview Thursday.
Brinks ruled out extradition to
the Philippines, because “that’s something we don’t do.”
Besides, there is no extradition treaty between Manila and The
Hague.
“The charges against him are
for allegedly planning a murder while in our territory,” he said.
“We consider that as a crime, and it is in the public interest
that he be prosecuted for that but the ongoing investigation and
trial will take place under our jurisdiction.”
Brinks clarified that he does not
represent the judiciary, and that like the Philippines, there is
separation of powers between that branch and the one that the
foreign ministry belongs to.
In August 2007, Sison was
arrested for allegedly plotting from The Netherlands three
assassinations that took place in the Philippines—those of Romulo
Kintanar in 2003 and of Arturo Tabara and Stephen Ong in 2006, all
leaders of the New People’s Army. Although Sison was released in
September 2007, Dutch prosecutors continue to investigate the
charges against him.
Brinks said he has no personal
information about the Philippine and the US governments putting
pressure on The Netherlands to prosecute Sison. The envoy said
Philippine officials did offer to help, but Brinks said he told them
that the Dutch prosecutors will contact them if they need help. So
far, no call for help has come, he added.
“We are, however, continuing
the case against him, and if he is found guilty we will apply the
penalties as applicable within the Dutch penal system,” according
to the ambassador.
Sison is the founder of the
so-called reestablished Communist Party of the Philippines, to
distinguish it from the supposedly original and “revisionist”
one founded in the 1930s. He fled the Philippines for The
Netherlands in 1987, claiming threats to his life from the
government of then-President Corazon Aquino. Ironically, it was
Aquino who released him and other top local communists from jail
after the downfall of President Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.
Referring to Sison, Brinks said,
“I don’t think he will voluntarily come back [to the
Philippines].”
At present, he added, Sison’s
status in The Netherlands is that of a “tolerated alien.” Sison
does not have a Dutch passport.
“He has not been given refugee
status,” Brinks added. “He hasn’t been given refugee status
because of his background, but we cannot send him back to his
country because of his situation there.”
Sison is not getting any
financial support from the Dutch government, primarily because he is
on the US list of terrorists, Brinks said.
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