CONDUITS / SISON IN ILOILO?
MANILA, MARCH 1, 2012
(STANDARD) by Florante S. Solmerin - AT LEAST four members of
President Benigno Aquino III's Cabinet are negotiating to convince Jose Maria
Sison, the founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines, to join the Aquino
administration for national unification, the spokesman of an anti-communist
group said Wednesday.
"You know, if you received our previous press releases, in fact we mentioned
about several people in Malacañang, particularly Ronald Llamas, Jing Deles and
Alex Padilla," said Joey Sison, spokesman of the Alliance for Nationalism and
Democracy that's being led by Rep. Pastor Alcover, a former rebel.
Llamas on Wednesday denied the group's claim.
"There is no specific negotiation to bring back Joma [Sison]," he said. "The
talks are toward a possible political settlement."
[PHOTO - President Benigno Aquino sharing light moments with his
political adviser, Ronald Llamas, in this file photo in Malacañang. EDWIN BACASMAS/INQUIRER]
Llamas is Mr. Aquino's political adviser and Teresita Quintos-Deles is head
of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process.
Padilla is the government's chief negotiator in its peace talks with the
communist National Democratic Front, the group negotiating for the Communist
Party of the Philippines and its military arm, the New People's Army.
A highly placed Palace source said the Aquino administration was indeed in
talks with the CPP for Joma's return from exile in Utretch.
But intelligence reports had it that Joma managed to slip in through the
Clark International Airport onboard a Hongkong flight last January 20 using the
alias "Renato Malaya" on his travel document.
Malacanang and military officials denied the report but that sent spies from
both government and left-leaning groups searching for Joma in Clark and Iloilo,
where he was said to have been in hiding since he arrived.
A source confirmed that Llamas was among those involved in the talks, but
denied that the government was dangling a Cabinet post for Joma as part of a
unification process.
Padilla said the administration had already rejected the communists' 10-point
proposal of which one was an alliance with the state.
"There are several people [whose names] we don't want to reveal yet because
we are checking their connections with the CPP," Sison, the party-list group
spokesman said.
He said Justice Secretary Leila de Lima could be one of those
negotiating with Joma.
"She's is the first cousin of Julie de Lima," Sison said, adding that Julie
is Joma's wife. His group claims that the Aquino administration is offering Joma
a Cabinet position.
"We're saying that because, you know, if we look back to the case of the
Morong 43, the withdrawal of the case against [the suspected communists] was
ordered by De Lima," Sison said.
Still, it was President Aquino who ordered the Justice Department to review
the case of the 43, who were later released from prison.
Police and soldiers arrested the suspects at a farmhouse in Morong, Rizal, in
February 2010 on suspicion they were communist rebels attending a bomb-making
seminar. The suspects denied it.
Sison also cited the case of Maria Luisa Porcray, Jaime Soledad and Jovencio
Balweg, who were facing criminal charges but were later released after
prosecutors withdrew their charges against them. The communists claimed that the
three were their peace consultants and therefore could not be arrested.
"We believe that the Justice Department was behind the withdrawal of the
charges against them," Sison said.
He said the same thing could happened to the case of Alan Jazmines and Tirzo
Alcantara, two ranking CPP leaders who are now detained in Camp Crame and in the
Army's headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig.
Sison said Joma could be somewhere in the Philippines.
"Yes, with all probability because the audio was very clear like a local
one," he said, citing a radio interview of Joma who denied he was here. With Joyce Pangco Pañares
FROM THE DAILY GUARDIAN, WESTERN VISAYAS
PHILIPPINES
Joma Sison in Iloilo? Not true, says Army By: Tara Yap
THERE IS no truth to the news that Communist Party of the Philippines
(CPP) founder Jose Maria "Joma" Sison has arrived in the country and is in
Iloilo.
"Apparently, Joma was interviewed by DZRH while in the Netherlands," said
Maj. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr., commander of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division (3ID).
Reports from national newspapers Business Mirror and Manila Standard Today
cited an anonymous military intelligence officer claiming that Sison, who sought
asylum in the Netherlands, arrived in the country last January and is being
coddled by politicians in Iloilo.
It also quoted the military officer saying Sison arrived in Iloilo onboard a
plane from Hong Kong. However, the new Iloilo Airport has no international
flights.
Capt. Reylan Java, 3ID spokesman, disclosed that no information has reached
its intelligence unit.
There was also no confirmation from the Military Intelligence Group (MIG) of
the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP).
"It would be impossible for the military not to know given it involves a
high-profiled personality," Java emphasized.
Java also said that this may be another case of unreliable information from
an unreliable source.
Java cited the incident last September 2011 when there were reports on the
alleged presence of a special unit of the New People's Army (NPA), the CPP's
armed group, in Iloilo City.
S/Supt. Marietto Valerio, city police director, claimed that a special
partisan unit (SPARU) was targeting politicians and businessmen.
"It later turned out the information was from a retired military officer,"
Java said.
Sison serves as the chief consultant of the National Democratic Front (NDF),
the negotiating group of the CPP-NPA.
The government peacetalks with the CPP-NPA-NDF came to a halt last February
2011. NDF accused the government of violating the Joint Agreement on Security
and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) by detaining NDF members who are said to be
peace consultants.
Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE
NEWS ONLINE
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