PNP asks Interpol to issue red notice to Sison

September 10, 2019

The Philippine National Police ( PNP) is asking Interpol to issue  a red notice and remove a grant of asylum for them to arrest Communist Party of the Philippines founding chairman Jose Maria Sison, who is in self-exile in Utrecht, The Netherlands.

In a press briefing, Police General Oscar Albayalde said the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime (PCTC) is making representations with Interpol.

"We are working it out with PCTC," said Albayalde.

"Sison and 32 others are the subjects of a warrant of arrest for 15 counts of Murder issued on August 29, 2019 by Hon. Thelma Bunyi-Medina, presiding judge of Regional Trial Court Branch 32 of Manila with no bail recommended," he said.

Albayalde said the legal basis for an Interpol red notice is an arrest warrant or court order issued by judicial authorities of a country.

"Many Interpol member countries consider a red notice to be a valid request for provisional arrest," he said.

Albayalde said they are working with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to remove Sison's political asylum.

"Once it's gone and we got the red notice then he can be arrested there," he said.

"Through the Interpol, like what we do or what we extend in other countries when they are looking for wanted nationals, we have what we call red notice," he added.

PCTC is the Interpol National Central Bureau (NCB) in the Philippines.

Albayalde said a political asylum granted by a country to a political refugee can be easily revoked.

"The asylum can be always be revoked and that is what we are asking The Netherlands... because the person they are giving asylum is involved in heinous crimes," he said.

Albayalde said his arrest should have been done long before but it is only now that judges decided to order his arrest.

"The case was released before so we want to thank the judge who issued the warrant of arrest so that justice will be serve to those they killed," he said.

Sison, with other CPP members, are facing murder charges for the Inopacan, Leyte massacre around 1980s where the mass grave was discovered in 2006. Ella Dionisio/DMS