Sison says Philippine court summons ‘worthless’

COMMUNIST PARTY of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria C. Sison, who has been living in exile in The Netherlands, said on Wednesday that a Philippine court’s summons against him is “worthless and ineffective” because he is protected by international law. The Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 19, through the Department of Justice (DoJ), has summoned Mr. Sison and Antonio Cabanatan, secretary of the Mindanao Commission, for their supposed “unassailable links” to the CPP and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA). “I pity Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra and Manila Judge Marlo Madoza-Malagar for collaborating to have me summoned to Manila and for appearing stupid and grossly ignorant of international law pertaining to my status and my decades-long legal history just to comply with the truly stupid order of their boss (President Rodrigo R.) Duterte to target me in the proscription case against the CPP and the NPA,” Mr. Sison said in a social media post. The DoJ filed a petition before the Manila Regional Trial Court in Feb. 2018 to formally declare the CPP and the NPA as terrorists following the President’s order. Mr. Sison said the legal protection he enjoys “is well tested and proven valid and effective by the legal and judicial processes” that he has undergone to have his name removed from the European Union’s list of terrorists and to cause the dismissal of the “false charge of committing the alleged murder of certain individuals in the Philippines by ordering from Dutch territory alleged accomplices to commit the crime directly.” Malacañang has yet to issue a comment as of this reporting. — Arjay L. Balinbin and Vince Angelo C. Ferreras