Invite Joma Sison to Senate red-tagging probe? Lacson, Sotto will look into it

Senate leaders have yet to study the possibility of inviting Communist Party of the Philippines founding chairman Joma Sison in the legislative investigation on alleged red-tagging.

"We will have to look into it first since he is out of the country’s jurisdiction and his testimony may not have any probative value even in a legislative inquiry," Senator Panfilo Lacson, who chairs the Senate committee on national defense, said in a message on Wednesday.

He added that The Netherlands-based Sison is covered by a warrant of arrest "issued by a competent court of law."

As the Senate employs the use of videoconferencing in its hearings due to the threat of COVID-19, Senate President Vicente Sotto III also said in a Twitter post that he would look into the possibility of inviting Sison.

Lacson's panel continued its inquiry on the alleged red-tagging perpetrated by the state security forces on Tuesday.

The representatives of the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives denied being "fronts" of the CPP but the security sector reiterated that it was Sison who dropped the names of organizations linked to the underground movement of communists.

Sison earlier denied identifying some progressive groups as legal fronts of the CPP.

He said the military spliced a video of his speech in 1988 to make it appear that he red-tagged some groups including Gabriela, Kilusang Mayo Uno, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, League of Filipino Students and the Alliance of Concerned Teachers.

The Senate hearing on red-tagging is expected to resume on December 1. — RSJ, GMA News