Only Joma Sison, Mindanao Commission ‘leader’ remain in gov’t suit vs. CPP

The Manila regional trial court has accepted the government petition that cut down its list of alleged communist insurgents, leaving only Jose Maria Sison and another suspected leader to face summons in the suit seeking a court declaration that the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) is a terrorist organization.

In a February 1 resolution, the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 19 directed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to serve summons to Sison and Antonio Cabanatan, allegedly the secretary of the Mindanao Commission, through publication because their addresses were unknown.

The DOJ has expunged more than 600 names of its original list of alleged members of the CPP and its armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA).

It left eight names of supposed officers, but the court said it found "nothing" to establish the connections of six of them with the organizations.

While President Rodrigo Duterte proclaimed the CPP-NPA as terrorist groups in 2017, it would take a court to officially outlaw them in accordance with the Human Security Act of 2007.

The DOJ's petition for proscription has been pending before the Manila court for a year. It alleges 12 "terrorist acts" supposedly committed by the CPP-NPA in 2017.

These include the ambush and kidnapping of police officers in different provinces, one of which led to the death of a four-month-old girl and one that killed a Swedish couple, an attack on members of the Philippine Army in Northern Samar, and extortion activities, according to the DOJ prosecutor who filed the petition.

Last July, the court declared former Bayan Muna representative Satur Ocampo, United Nations Special Rapporteur Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, NDFP consultant Rafael Baylosis, and ex-Baguio City councilor Jose Melencio Molintas as "non-parties" in the case.

In view of the admission of the amended petition, the court has declared the rest of the more than 600 personalities named in the original submission as "non-parties" to the case. —NB, GMA News