Sison denies existence of NPA hit list

(Eagle News)–Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison on Friday, Dec. 20, denied the New People’s Army had a “hit list,” as claimed by the government.

In a statement, Sison said National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr.’s “hype of an alleged ‘NPA hit list’ only aims to sow intrigue in order to sabotage the planned resumption of formal peace talks.”

He said it was in fact the military and the police  “who keep in their infamous ‘orders of battle’ names of activists, progressives and other individuals supportive of the people’s struggles for democratic rights.”

“It is the regime’s death squads in the military and police who have killed close to 300 peasants, workers, indigenous peoples, human rights workers, journalists, lawyers and other democratic forces in the last three years,” he alleged, noting that last week, in Laak, Compostela Valley, farmer Paterno Casos Sr. and his son Dino were “mercilessly killed by the 1001st Brigade’s death squads.”

He alleged their bodies bore signs of torture and gunshots.

“As AFP Chief of Staff of the Arroyo regime, Esperon employed these death squads with impunity. Now being Duterte’s national security adviser, he has extended their vicious campaign of murder,” ‘Sison said.

He said that while the NPA keeps no “hit list” with Esperon’s name in it, it “will not fail to remember his many crimes and may seek justice with their revolutionary army.”

“Together with fellow peace antagonists Delfin Lorenzana of the Department of National Defense and DILG’s Eduardo Año, Esperon is adamant in adhering to GRP President Rodrigo Duterte’s statement to resume the peace negotiations with the NDFP,” he said.

On Thursday, Dec. 19, Esperon said based on reports, apart from him, the hit list also included Interior Secretary Eduardo Año and National Commission on Indigenous Peoples chair Allen Capuyan.‍‍

He said the assassination of high-profile government officials was meant to mark the CPP’s 51st founding anniversary on Dec. 26.