Despite court ruling, Joma still in EU’s terror list

The European Union will have until November to decide on whether or not to execute the annulment of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison’s inclusion in its list of terrorists, an official said Friday. While the Council of Ministers of the EU has decided to take Sison off its list of terrorists, Ambassador Alistair MacDonald, head of delegation of the European Commission (EC) to the Philippines, said they still have to wait for an appeal. “That is not yet executory," MacDonald said, referring to the Sept. 30 decision favoring Sison. Sison, a Filipino political refugee in The Netherlands since 1987, is the chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front (NDF) and founding chairman of the CPP. A torture victim during the Marcos regime, he was released from prison after the People Power Revolt. After peace talks between the government and the NDF collapsed in December 1986, Sison went on self-exile in the Netherlands and have remained there until this day. [See: In depth profile of Jose Maria Sison] (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/58100/Jose-Maria-Sison) In 2002, the US and EU placed Sison and the CPP’s military arm, New People’s Army (NPA), in their lists of foreign terrorists and foreign terrorist groups. After being listed as a terrorist, Sison's assets and pension were frozen. This ruling was overturned by the EU’s Court of Justice in 2007. - Joseph Holandes Ubalde, GMANews.TV