(Eagle News)–The Department of the Interior and Local Government will ask the the Dutch government for help in the extradition of Communist Party of the Philippines founding chair Jose Maria Sison.
In a statement, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said the Philippine government will in particular seek a “special arrangement” with the country that has no extradition pact with the Philippines.
According to Año, the grounds would be that Sison’s “‘refugee status’ is no longer tenable because he participated in the commission of crimes and other criminal acts as determined by the Regional Trial Court, which renders him effectively ineligible.”
A Manila court has issued a warrant of arrest against Sison and over 30 others.
The warrant stems from the multiple murder charges filed against them for the mass grave in Inopacan, Leyte.
The grave, discovered in 2006, allegedly contained the remains of victims of a Communist purge in the 1980s.
Año added Sison continues to direct “terrorist forces” in the Philippines with his statements ordering members of the CPP and New People’s Army “to kill and plunder in the Philippines.”
“This fact has been established when the United States, the European Union, and the Duterte administration declared the CPP/NPA as a terrorist organization,” Año added.
“Duwag ka, Joma. Now that you are in the last few years of your life, do something right for a change, own up to your sins against the Filipino people and face the charges against you and give justice to the victims of the Inopacan massacre, among many others,” he added.
