Aging communist leader Sison eyes homecoming this year

Christian V. Esguerra, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/news/05/21/joma-1.jpg"/><figcaption>Exiled communist leader Jose Ma. Sison speaks to his wife, Julie De Lima, at their home in The Utrecht. <em>Christian V. Esguerra, ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>UTRECHT -- In one corner of this small second-floor apartment unit here are workstations with multiple computer monitors — one set for Jose Maria Sison and another for his wife.</p><p>From this working-class neighborhood by the Old Rhine river, thousands of kilometers away from home, Sison leads a revolutionary movement he began nearly half a century ago when he established the Communist Party of the Philippines.</p><p>At 79, he said he had learned to harness the power of the &quot;digital system,&quot; thanks to his tech-savvy wife Julie De Lima, who introduced him to social media.</p><p>Facebook serves as his &quot;barometer&quot; of political events back in his home country where, he insists, the struggle is as relevant as before.</p><p>It allows him, he said, to reach out and influence more people as some sort of an online &quot;newsmaker&quot; through a technology not available to Lenin and other communist leaders in the past.</p><p>But it’s also where critics portray him as someone who has opted to enjoy life abroad while comrades do the actual battle back home.</p><p>&quot;Of course, I would prefer to be with compatriots,&quot; he told ABS-CBN News. &quot;It was not my choice to get political asylum here.&quot;</p><figure class="op-interactive"><div id="IVS_ABS_Body_Video_1_Container"> <ivs-player id="IVS_ABS_Body_Video_1" data-ivs-spid="3001339" data-ivs-key="e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603" data-ivs-vid="1433531" data-ivs-floating="1"></ivs-player> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/iframe-parent.js"></script> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/loader.js"></script> </div></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="~//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="~//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><div><strong>CHARITY CASE</strong></div><p>Sison described himself as a &quot;recognized political refugee&quot; but with no &quot;legal admission&quot; in The Netherlands where he has been stuck since 1987 when the Philippine government cancelled his passport.</p><p>&quot;I have no residence but not even the Dutch government can kick me out here,&quot; he said.</p><p>But with no social benefits, he said he’s dependent on his wife, a Dutch resident, and constributions from friends for his upkeep.</p><p>He is regarded as a &quot;private charity case&quot; in a nearby university hospital where he was confined several times because of pneumonia. He also suffers from Sweet’s syndrome, a painful skin condition.</p><p>Confinement forced him to miss portions of the informal talks with a team of government negotiators led by Hernani Braganza here early this month.</p><p>During the interview with ABS-CBN News, Sison appeared occasionally short-winded, his wife periodically checking on him from the other end of their book-stacked, 75-square-meter flat.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/news/05/21/joma-2.jpg"/><figcaption>Exiled communist leader Jose Ma. Sison is shown with his wife, Julie De Lima, at their home in The Utrecht. <em>Christian V. Esguerra, ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><div><strong>HOMECOMING</strong></div><p>President Rodrigo Duterte, his one-time student, has repeatedly asked him to return to the Philippines to continue peace negotiations.</p><p>But Sison said this would mean giving up the &quot;advantages of negotiating in a foreign neutral venue,&quot; which is Norway.</p><p>Duterte’s volatile nature is also a factor: he could easily order the resumption of talks just as easily he could end them. He did so earlier following continued attacks by communist rebels on government troops despite ongoing negotiations.</p><p>Sison said he was &quot;not absolutely against&quot; returning to the Philippines but &quot;at the proper time.&quot;</p><p>Asked if his homecoming could come within the year, he said: &quot;Yes... I’ve always been optimistic.&quot;</p><p>An interim peace agreement, he said, is expected to be signed when formal talks between the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines resume on June 28.</p><div><strong>STAND-DOWN AGREEMENT</strong></div><p>Both sides, he said, were expected to announce a stand-down agreement two weeks before that.</p><p>&quot;So, by June 14, plantsado na (it&#x27;s all ironed out),&quot; he said. &quot;Of course, I may be proven wrong because everything depends on that joint announcement... but I don’t see any problem because there may be some misunderstanding but they can be solved.&quot;</p><p>A copy of the stand-down agreement obtained by ABS-CBN News calls for a &quot;temporary cessation of hostilities in which the contending armed units and personnel&quot; of the 2 sides &quot;stay where they are.&quot;</p><p>They will take &quot;an active defense mode&quot; but will &quot;not commit any offensive action or operation against combatants and civilians.&quot;</p><p>An &quot;as is where is&quot; provision seeks to avoid &quot;any kind of movement... which may be considered as a provocative and/or hostile act.&quot;</p><p>A member from each of the negotiating panels will serve as coordinators to &quot;work on measures to prevent the escalation of hostilities that may arise from certain incidents.&quot;</p><p>&quot;No retaliatory act shall be taken by either party,&quot; according to the draft agreement, which both sides hope to replace with a coordinated unilateral ceasefire later on.</p><div><strong>SIGNAL</strong></div><p>The wider interim peace accord is hinged on agreements now being ironed out by both sides on a ceasefire, amnesty proclamation, and major portions of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER), which is considered the &quot;heart and soul&quot; of the peace negotiations.</p><p>The rebels are pushing for CASER to address the root causes of the armed struggle, with provisions on genuine agrarian reform and rural development, and nationalization of certain industries.</p><p>&quot;I think within one round, we can finish CASER and that would be a signal for me to return to the Philippines,&quot; Sison said, noting that an agreement on political and constitutional reforms could also come soon afterward.</p><p>Life here Utretch could occasionally lead to boredom, Sison admitted, pointing to the river from across his apartment window where the view has a calming effect on him.</p><p>But home, he said, is still the Philippines.</p><p>&quot;Maybe, as soon as I go down the airport, I’ll be smelling Philippine scents and hearing Philippine sounds,&quot; he said. &quot;That would be a joy.&quot;</p>

<p>From a working-class neighborhood by the Old Rhine river, thousands of kilometers away from home, Sison leads a revolutionary movement he began nearly half a century ago when he established the Communist Party of the Philippines.</p>

From a working-class neighborhood by the Old Rhine river, thousands of kilometers away from home, Sison leads a revolutionary movement he began nearly half a century ago when he established the Communist Party of the Philippines.

Aging communist leader Sison eyes homecoming this year | ABS-CBN

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Aging communist leader Sison eyes homecoming this year

Aging communist leader Sison eyes homecoming this year

Christian V. Esguerra,

ABS-CBN News

Published May 21, 2018 01:21 PM PHT

|

Updated May 22, 2018 09:40 AM PHT

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Rodrigo Duterte

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