“It is for the benefit of the people that the peace negotiations resume and stop the Duterte regime from proclaiming martial law nationwide, from calling off or rigging the May 2019 elections and from pursuing the scheme to impose a fascist dictatorship on the Filipino people via charter change for a bogus kind of federalism.” — Jose Maria Sison
After his arrest in 1977, Philippine communist leader Joma Sison was presented to the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. He could have negotiated his release with his fellow Ilocano by pledging loyalty to the ‘New Society’. He could have altered the course of history by agreeing to surrender his beliefs and disowning the national democratic resistance. But…
And so it has come to this. After stoking such high expectations about the resumption of peace talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and what the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) considers the top “security threat” in the country today — the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National…
“He shows his bad faith, selfishness and incorrigible penchant for cruelty by putting in advance of formal talks his precondition that he will continue to violate Jasig and CAHRIHL and further on by allowing the issuance of warrants of arrest against NDFP consultants in connection with the baseless and false Hilongos charge.”
The Philippines has reached its own version of an impasse. On one side are the Filipino people demanding for the abolition of pork barrel and discretionary funds, including that of President Aquino’s, and on the other side is the Aquino administration, which has been adamantly defending the pork barrel fund. . .
The book, as the title states, is a celebration of Sison’s life and his contributions to not only to the Filipino people’s struggle for liberation and social justice, but to the rest of humanity’s battle for good against the great evils wrought by capitalism.
If the atmosphere that night was any indication, the talks were off to a good start. Everyone seemed determined to have a good time and did not mind letting their hair down.
BY DABET CASTAÑEDA Bulatlat.com He was involved in the armed struggle from 1961 until his arrest in 1987. He still considers himself a revolutionary, arguing that armed struggle is necessary to effect meaningful change in the country. Now 72, he narrates the beginnings of what the government now regards as the biggest threat to the…