Joma Sison told: Drop ‘illusory dream of ousting’ Duterte, face arrest

MANILA, Philippines — Exiled communist leader Jose Maria Sison was told Thursday to forget about his “illusory dream of ousting” President Rodrigo Duterte and instead face his arrest in the Philippines.

This was the message of Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo to the founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), who is a subject of an arrest warrant issued by a Manila court last week for his alleged involvement in the so-called Inopacan massacre in the 1980s.

Sison has dismissed his possible arrest and said he enjoys “absolute protection” from deportation. He even called the charges against him as “politically motivated and fabricated.”

“He always says that. The problem is he has a warrant. So what he is saying are all moot and academic,” Panelo said in a Palace briefing,

“They were given the opportunity to rebut the evidence submitted before the court or prior to that, the preliminary investigation, the prosecutors found probable cause filed before the regional trial court, and the court finds probable cause. So, what now? Panelo added.

Sison, his wife Juliet, and 36 others who are alleged officials and members of the communist movement in the country are being ordered arrested for the purge of communist rebels suspected of being government spies.

Asked if Sison could be extradited, the Palace official said: “Yes. Why not, if The Netherlands government allows it. It’s up to them.”

“But until such time he has faced the music, he has a problem. He should unchain himself from that illusory dream of ousting the President. Dispensation. That’s already fifty years plus,” Panelo added. /kga