Joma Sison twits NSA Gonzales

By LOUI GALICIA, ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau 04/02/2009 12:49 AM

Jose Maria “Joma” Sison said the Philippines' national security adviser should not embarrass himself a second time.

The Communist Party of the Philippines founding chair said Secretary Norberto Gonzales should be ashamed of himself for claiming that he had everything to do with Sison’s arrest in August 2007.

Dutch authorities earlier cleared Sison of charges that he ordered the killings of his erstwhile comrades Arturo Tabara and Romulo Kintanar.

Sison also brushed off Gonzales' statements on the Philippine government’s plan to seek his return to the country.

“Dapat diyan si Gonzales na yan…Norberto…Dapat walang mukha na ‘yan. Di ba nagyayabang ‘yan noong ako ay hulihin. Di ba nagyayabang na siya ang responsible sa pagkahuli ko. Siya nga ‘yong taga-organize ng mga false evidence and false witnesses. So dapat mapahiya siya,” Sison said in a telephone interview.

Sison was reacting to Gonzales’s statement on Wednesday that the Philippine government will seek the return of Sison to the Philippines after a Dutch prosecutor dropped the cases against him for the deaths of Tabara and Kintanar.

Gonzales, in an interview with ABS-CBN News, said the Philippine government will write the Dutch government as soon as possible to seek his return. Gonzales noted the Dutch prosecutor dropped the case against Sison not because there was no evidence, but because there were no witnesses who came out to testify.

“Use diplomacy”
Gonzales said they will use diplomacy to seek Sison's return since the Philippines currently does not have an extradition treaty with The Netherlands.

“More diplomacy you know. Kasi titingnan natin ‘yong mga batas natin, batas nila. Kasi alam mo si Joma Sison hindi binigyan ng asylum,” said Gonzales.

The Dutch government has thrice rejected Sison's plea for political asylum. Sison, however, invoked his right as a political refugee under international humanitarian laws to stay in Utrecht.

He also managed to stay in the European country despite murder charges filed against him in the past in Manila because European states are against the death penalty.

“Bawal sa Dutch law na payagan na makuha ang isang tao na maaaring i-prosecute at saka may death penalty o masentensiyahan ng kamatayan. Eh sa ngayon wala na tayong ganyan,” said Arroyo’s chief security adviser, citing that the Arroyo administration has already lifted the death penalty.

Gonzales also assuaged Sison's concern for his safety should he return to the Philippines. He said the Philippine government is willing to give him protection.

“Di naman tayo masamang gobyerno. Gagarantyahan natin ‘yong rights ni Joma. Poproteksyunan natin siya. Sinasabi niyang may nagpa-plano na mag-assasinate sa kanya doon sa abroad, eh di umuwi na siya dito. Dito poproteksyunan natin siya ng husto at sisiguraduhin natin na di siya abutin ng mga nagagalit sa kaniya,” said Gonzales.

Gonzales said the thrust of government is to make sure that all those liable for a crime are brought to the bar of justice, dismissing concerns Sison might have for his safety once in Philippine jurisdiction.

“Recognized but not legally admitted”
Sison countered that he is a recognized political refugee but one who is not legally admitted.

“In my case, there is hairsplitting. I am a recognized political refugee. Even the Dutch
government states that. In 1995, the highest court in the Netherlands reiterated its position that I am a political refugee under Article 1 A,” Sison said.

The Council of State, as the highest Dutch administrative court, issued in 1995 the judgment reaffirming its previous ruling that Sison is a political refugee under Article 1 A of the Refugee Convention and that he is under the protection of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

It ruled that Article 1 F of the Refugee Convention did not apply to him because there was no sufficient evidence against him for crimes that would exclude him from consideration as a refugee.

Article 1 F of the Refugee Convention states that the provisions shall not apply to any person with respect to whom there are serious reasons for considering that he has committed among other things: a crime against peace, war crime or crime against humanity.

“Hindi ako 1 F. Yung 1 F, hindi ka pwedeng makilala [as a refugee] because of war crimes, crimes against humanity, etc. so kakaiba ako sa Article 1 F. Article 1 A ako, kaya malakas ako,” Sison said.

“Cannot be forced to leave”
Sison explained, however, that he cannot be asked to leave the Netherlands and that not even the Dutch government can force him to.

“I’m protected by Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights. I can’t be sent to a country where I’m at risk of being tortured or subjected to degrading and humiliating treatment,” Sison said.

Since the Philippines doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the Netherlands, Sison is confident that not even diplomacy can bring him back to the Philippines.

“That diplomacy can’t overrule the European Convention on Human Rights. Lalo na ngayon discredited na ‘yong Bush regime tungkol sa repressive actions. Iyang terrorist listing eventually will be thoroughly discredited. Even Obama now pretends to be turning his back on the policies of Bush,” Sison said.

In a 2007 interview with Sison, he admitted that his legal status in the Netherlands is in a state of limbo since the inclusion of his name on the European Union’s list of terrorists.

In the interview, Sison showed his “W-Document" card, which is an identification used for asylum seekers in the Netherlands but which already expired in 2005.

Sison said that even if that document card has already expired, he still goes about his daily routine provided he report to the police regularly.

“Primero for the first year or so, weekly ako nagre-report. Then for many years, more than 10 years I was reporting monthly. Then because of this terrorist scare, naku binalik na naman ako sa weekly. Ito lang in the last two weeks, binalik, di binalik kundi ni-reduce ‘yong frequency to once in two weeks,” Sison said.

Sison is very confident that he will never be asked to leave the Netherlands especially since his name has now been cleared of any wrongdoing.

“Ngayon pang false charge of murder, nabasura na. Ngayon pa magsasabi they can seek my return, lalong mahirap yan. Lalong tumibay ang aking legal position dito sa Netherlands,” Sison said.

With a report from RG CRUZ, ABS-CBN News
as of 04/02/2009 1:57 PM