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Group hits Dutch embassy's silence on call to bring Joma home

By Christine Cudis

November 19, 2019, 5:22 pm

<p><strong>RELENTLESS.</strong> Even with the cold response from the Dutch embassy, anti-communist group Liga Filipinas Independencia still pushes for its demand to have the embassy cooperate in bringing back Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison here. The group's spokesperson, Nolan Tiongco, said they are set to take bolder actions and communicate directly with the Dutch government's parliament.<em> (PNA file photo by Christine Cudis)</em></p>

RELENTLESS. Even with the cold response from the Dutch embassy, anti-communist group Liga Filipinas Independencia still pushes for its demand to have the embassy cooperate in bringing back Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison here. The group's spokesperson, Nolan Tiongco, said they are set to take bolder actions and communicate directly with the Dutch government's parliament. (PNA file photo by Christine Cudis)

MANILA -- An anti-communist group believes the Embassy of the Netherlands in the Philippines "already has their bias" on their call to help bring Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison back home.

In an interview on Tuesday, Liga Filipinas Independencia spokesperson Nolan Tiongco expressed dismay over the move of the Dutch embassy to ignore their protests outside its building in Makati City.

Tingin ko po dyan sympathizer sila ni Joma Sison, kaya malamig ang response nila sa amin (I think, they are sympathizers of Joma Sison, that’s why they are responding coldly to us),” he said.

The Dutch embassy, in an e-mail last Nov. 12, said “the Embassy of the Kingdom of The Netherlands acknowledges receipt of your message and does not wish to comment to the press on the series of protests held in front of its office.”

Tiongco added that given this, their group is more determined to continue with the protest.

“The public’s support is making us go back here every time. And the group is getting bigger with the participation of parent groups who also want Sison to face his charges,” he said.

Parent organizations Hands Off our Children and League of the Parents of the Philippines also shared the group’s demand to bring Sison back to the country so "they may get justice".

“It is justice for us, our children who have been deceived into joining the leftist organizations Kabataan and Anakbayan that support CPP and New People’s Army (NPA),” Remy Rosadio said in a phone interview.

The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

Tiongco, meanwhile, said they are sending a letter to a member of the parliament of the Dutch government.

The group, he said, will stage a rally on Wednesday (Nov. 20), this time, with a “stronger statement.”

The group has held multiple protests in front of the Dutch embassy since April 2019, as they seek the embassy's cooperation to bring back Sison to the Philippines.

On August 28, the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 32 ordered Sison's arrest for his alleged involvement in a multiple murder case filed in 2007 related to the alleged purge of his communists.

Maj. Gen. Antonio Parlade, Armed Forces of the Philippines Deputy Chief-of-Staff for Civil-Military Operations, said Sison made the call to kill thousands of the communists after he thought they were deep penetration agents of the government.

Former Philippine National Police chief Oscar Albayalde, on September 10, revealed plans to ask the Netherlands to drop Sison's asylum on the basis of the new arrest warrant against him.

Albayalde was also set to ask the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) to issue a red notice against the CPP founder. (PNA)

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