Jose Maria Sison, former leader of the Communist Party of the Philippines (PCF) and leader of the communist rebellion in the country, has died in a Dutch hospital at the age of 83.
Sison died during Friday evening after two weeks of convalescence in a hospital in Utretch, party spokesman Marco Balbuena said in a statement reported by the ‘Manila Times’.
«The Philippine proletariat and the working people mourn the death of their teacher and guiding light,» the spokesman said, before announcing that the party will pay the highest possible tribute to its founding chairman, «a great Marxist-Leninist-Maoist thinker, patriot, internationalist and revolutionary leader.»
The armed wing of the PCF has been waging a rebellion against the Philippine government since the 1960s that has claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people. In 2022, the United States labeled Sison a «terrorist sympathizer,» but the European Union eventually removed the communist leader from its own list of supporters of terrorist acts.
Former President Rodrigo Duterte held peace talks with the rebels, which ended barely a year into his presidency. In canceling the peace talks, Duterte claimed that the communists «failed to show their sincerity and commitment in pursuing genuine and meaningful peace negotiations as they engaged in acts of violence and hostilities.»
Following his inability to resolve the problem, Duterte signed Executive Order No. 70, which sought a national counterinsurgency approach beyond armed confrontation, but the order only worsened the authorities’ crackdown on civilian party sympathizers.
For its part, the Philippine Department of National Defense (DND) has claimed that Sison’s death has removed the «biggest obstacle to peace» in the country.
«A new era dawns without Jose Maria Sison for the Philippines, and we will all be better because of it. The biggest obstacle to peace in the Philippines is gone; let us now give peace a chance,» according to a statement carried by the Rappler portal.
For the authorities, Sison’s death is a «symbol of the crumbling hierarchy» of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NEP-NNDF), although it regretted that this death has meant that Filipinos who have been victims of the «crimes of the communist rebels have been deprived of justice».
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
