CPP Founder Joma Sison Dead At 83

Jose Maria Sison, founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), passed away in the Netherlands on Friday, Dec. 16. He was 83.

The self-exiled communist leader had lived in Europe since the late 1980s, after his release from jail following the fall of then president Ferdinand Marcos, whose namesake son was elected president in May this year.

Sison was put on a US terrorist list in 2002, preventing him from traveling.

The CPP Central Committee said Sison died peacefully at around 8:40 p.m. (1240 GMT) on Friday, Dec. 16, after being confined in the hospital in Utrecht. It did not give a reason for Sison’s confinement.

“The Filipino proletariat and toiling people grieve the death of their teacher and guiding light,” Marco Valbuena, chief information officer of the CPP Central Committee, said.

He said Sison was confined for two weeks in the hospital before his passing.

“The entire Communist Party of the Philippines gives the highest possible tribute to (him), great Marxist-Leninist-Maoist thinker, patriot, internationalist and revolutionary leader,” Valbuena said.

He also called the late founding leader of the CPP “the greatest Filipino of the past century.”

“Even as we mourn, we vow to continue to give all our strength and determination to carry the revolution forward, guided by the memory and teachings of the people’s beloved Ka Joma,” Valbuena said.

Following Sison’s death, the Department of National Defense (DND) called on the “remaining few believers ... (to) turn their backs on the violent and false ideology” of the Communist Party.

“The greatest stumbling block to peace for the Philippines is gone; let us now give peace a chance,” the DND said in a statement.

The Philippine National Police said Sison’s death was a heavy blow to the communist movement. “This is a setback to the CPP-NPA because they lost someone they looked up to as leader,” PNP Public Information Office chief Col. Rederico Maranan said in Filipino in an interview with dzBB radio.

Born on Feb. 8, 1939 in Ilocos Sur, Sison was instrumental in the formation of the longest communist insurgency movement in the world.

He graduated with a degree in English literature from the University of the Philippines, where he later taught literature and political science.

He co-founded Kabataang Makabayan in 1964 and formed the CPP central committee in 1968. A few months later, the Sison-led CPP – in collaboration with a faction of Hukbong Mapagpalayang Bayan (formerly Hukbalahap) – organized its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA).

Sison was arrested in 1977 during the Marcos dictatorship and was released from detention in 1986 as part of the reconciliation agenda of the administration of then president Corazon Aquino.

The Philippine government cancelled his passport in 1987 while he was on a global lecture tour in the Netherlands. He applied for political asylum and resided in Utrecht with his wife Julie, along with other leaders of the communist movement.

He was arrested in 2007 for murders that took place in the Philippines. He was later released, with the charges against him dropped by Dutch authorities.

In 2009, the European Union’s Court of First Instance removed him from the bloc’s list of terrorists and reversed with finality the ruling of various governments to freeze his assets.

Former president Rodrigo Duterte, who initially supported peace negotiations with communist groups, repeatedly attacked Sison and issued a proclamation declaring the CPP and NPA as terrorist organizations.

In a sit-down interview with The Philippine STAR in 2018, Sison maintained that their push for a coalition government will not affect the country’s sovereignty as claimed by Duterte.

“It’s possible to have a peace agreement towards a government of national unity, peace and development,” he said at the time.

While not expecting the Duterte government to return to the negotiating table, Sison said he remained open to discussing a possible peace agreement.

“Any time he wants to talk, he (Duterte) knows (how to contact me),” he said. “If the goal is to fix the armed confrontation, it is easy to address our word war if Duterte is ready and will to make peace. The demands of the NDF are not hidden. These are the demands of the people.”

In 2021, the newly formed Anti-Terrorism Council included Sison in the list of CPP officials designated as terrorists.

The CPP said Sison was no longer part of its leadership committee for years. He was officially the chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, the coalition leading the peace negotiations with the government. He also chaired the International League of Peoples’ Struggle.

Sison’s designation as a terrorist resulted in the suspension of his social media accounts, as well as the blocking of his website in the Philippines.

Fake information regarding his death made the rounds most recently in February a few days after his 83rd birthday.

“I have no life-threatening illness, only some inflammations on the legs due to rheumatoid arthritis... These go away in only two to four days after medication,” he said in e-mail to The Philippine STAR/OneNews.ph.

On learning of Sison’s death, Vice President Sara Duterte said: “May God have mercy on his soul.”

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. said Sison’s legacy included giving the people a profound understanding of the problems of society and establishing a movement that would address those social issues.

“It was never enough to interpret the world. The point always was to change it,” he added.

The Makabayan bloc at the House of Representatives extended its condolences to the family, friends and “comrades” of Sison.

“Prof. Sison was a patriot and revolutionary who stood with the Filipino people against oppression, exploitation and fascism during the Marcos dictatorship, was jailed and tortured as a dissident, but continued to side with the poor and marginalized until his death,” the Makabayan said in statement.

The group noted that Sison’s “call for armed revolution to attain social justice and national liberation continues to resonate with the current generation of Filipinos, signifying that government has failed to address the social injustice that drives our people to take up arms.”

“We take this opportunity to once again renew the call for the resumption of peace talks with the CPP-NPA-NDF and the implementation of genuine socio-economic and political reforms so that the Philippines may attain a just and lasting peace,” it added.

The bloc is composed of party-list representatives France Castro of ACT Teachers, Arlene Brosas of Gabriela and Raoul Manuel of Kabataan. – With additional reports from Sheila Crisostomo, John Unson, Emmanuel Tupas, Artemio Dumlao, Jose Rodel Clapano