Joma release triggers RP alert vs Reds

Joma release triggers RP alert vs Reds

National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said security forces have been alerted in Metro Manila due to reports that the New People's Army will launch an attack in the capital region "in the coming days."

"We have received information that the CPP-NPA is planning a major attack in Metro Manila in the coming days," Gonzales told ABS-CBN News.

At the same time, President Arroyo's chief security adviser said he has ordered additional bodyguards for high-ranking government officials that might be the subject of assassination attempts.

The intensified security was also implemented on the widows of Arturo Tabara and Romulo Kintanar, the slain former colleagues of Jose Maria Sison, the founding chairman of the ommunist Party of the Philippines.

The widows of Tabara and Kintanar were the ones who filed the murder charges against Sison.

On Thursday a district court in The Hague released Sison after his arrest and subsequent detention on August 28.

Police arrested Sison on charges that he ordered the assassination of Philippine-based Tabara, Kintanar and two other former comrades in the CPP.

A rough translation of the press release and decision from the District Court of The Hague, meanwhile, said Sison's case was decided "in camera" and that the accused "should be released from custody immediately."

"The District Court established that these serious offenses have been committed in the Philippines and relate to disagreements inside the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and that the decision to commit these murders was taken within the party structure of the CPP," the press release said.

"Furthermore, the Court recognized that there are many indications in the files which support the point of view that the accused is still playing a leading role in the Central Committee [CC] of the CPP as well as in the military branch of the CPP, the New People's Army (NPA)," it added.

The court also said that: "The files pertaining to the accused do not include indications that Sison, while in the Netherlands, committed the offenses he is charged with in deliberate and close co-operation with the perpetrators in the Philippines."

It added that the Sison's files do not contain information that he incited others to commit serious offenses according to the accusations.

Not yet off hook

In a related development, the Dutch justice ministry said it will not drop the case against Sison.

Wim de Bruin, spokesman of the public prosecutor's office, told Loui Galicia of ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau that the prosecution will appeal the court's decision.

“The investigation will be continued. And Mr. Sison is still a suspect and Prosecutor's office will appeal the decision of the court this morning," de Bruin said.

De Bruin said that the charges are not being dropped.

"The court thought there was not enough [evidence] to keep Mr. Sison in custody," de Bruin said.Sison's release from detention followed a related report that he will remain in solitary confinement in the Netherlands for another 90 days.

The Philippine government and the NDF, meanwhile, immediately issued statements following Sison's release.

Jalandoni welcomed the news about Sison’s release from Dutch prison.“We are happy about the news but we are here now outside the prison awaiting his definitive release,” Jalandoni said.

He said that Sison’s lawyer called him up after receiving information about the release from prison due to insufficient evidence against him.

“The lawyer called that he would try to have Joma released about 12:30 that's 6:30 p.m. there. So were not sure of the final arrangement being made by the lawyers. We are now waiting for his release anytime now,” Jalandoni said.

He said Sison’s lawyer is still trying to set an appointment with them on Friday morning to discuss the details of the decision and to talk about the next steps to be taken.

“What is clear is that the court has ordered the immediate release of Prof. Sison because there is insufficiency of evidence on the charge that was made against him,” he said.

Shortly after his release from prison at noon, Sison was reunited with his wife, Julie, and chief negotiator Luis Jalandoni of the National Democratic Front.

As of last report, the three were on their way back to Sison's base in Utrecht. Dutch treat?

For his part, Jesus Dureza, President Arroyo's adviser on the peace process, said Sison’s arrest and release was a Dutch initiative.

“We should never be surprised when we have been saying that this is a Dutch initiative and this is violation of Dutch laws being handled by the Dutch courts,” Dureza said.

Dureza said that the decision of the Dutch court should be respected.

“We want a logical conclusion, of course. But as to what the conclusion will be is totally with the hands of the Dutch court,” he said.

Dureza added that he would rather not speculate if Sison would avail of the government’s amnesty program saying that “it is something that will have to be voluntarily done by the applicant.”

“Anyone who would wish to avail of it and they fall within the coverage and have committed the crimes as covered by the proclamation (1377) can avail of it,” he said.

Sison and a number of NDF officials have been in self-exile in the Netherlands since the late 1980s.The CPP, together with the NPA as its armed wing, are under the political umbrella of the NDF.

With a report from Willard Cheng and ABS-CBN News

SOURCE: WWW.ABS-CBNNEWS.COM

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/topofthehour.aspx?StoryId=92379