Extradition of Sison up to political leaders: AFP

March 25, 2019

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said the extradition of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison must be decided by the political leadership.

“The decision to request for the extradition of Mr. Sison to the Philippines is for our political leadership to make,” Brig. Gen. Edgard Arevalo, AFP spokesman, said Monday.

“But in so far as the AFP is concerned, we are, together with other government agencies under the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict is working for the indictment of Mr. Sison and his cohorts,” he said.

Arevalo said the military is working with other government agencies to gather evidence that foreign funds for front organizations finance the activities of the communist group.

“The AFP, together with other agencies of government..., is working diligently to gather and collate pieces of evidence to prove to the EU and Belgium that the funds they are providing end up with CPP-NPA front organizations and underground movement organizations and finance their terrorist activities,” he said.

“We are collating information and pieces of evidence to refute the grim narratives being presented by CPP-NPA front organizations like Karapatan about human rights abuses in the Philippines,” he noted.

Arevalo added that “Mr. Sison should be charged, convicted, and jailed for the crimes he and his minions have committed.” Robina Asido/DMS