Former Philippine Communist leader arrested

Jose Maria Sison, the former Communist leader in the Philippines, has been arrested in the Netherlands, charged with the murders of two former political associates. 66-year-old Sison has been living in the Netherlands since 1987, and was the founder of the Philippine Communist Party. The party's military wing, the NPA or New People's Army, is waging an armed rebellion across the Philippines that has cost 40,000 lives.

The National Public Prosecutor for the Netherlands, John Lucas, explained the reasons for Sison's arrest.

"He's suspected of involvement in the murder of two people in the Philippines. We think that he was giving orders to commit the murder of his former political associates in the Philippines - Arturo Tabara and Romulo Kintanar. Mr Kintonar was shot dead in a Japanese restaurant in the Philippines. The people who did it were at that time in the restaurant, and they fired a lot of shots - at least ten - into Mr Kintonar, and he bled to death as a result of those shot wounds."

No extradition request

Kintonar and Tabara had split from the Communist Party for ideological reasons. Kintonar was killed in 2003 and his associate Tabara a year later. But John Lucas says there has been no extradition request from the Philippines:

"It's a totally Dutch investigation. We think that what he did was punishable by Dutch law, so we led the investigation because he ordered those two crimes."

Newsline's correspondent in Manila, Raisa Espinosa-Robles, shed some further light on why no extradition request has been made by the Philippine government:

"They don't want to do that because Mr Sison has managed to use the legal system in the Netherlands to prevent any extradition. It seems that the Philippine government, and even the public here, are watching very closely. Apparently this Friday the Dutch judicial system will decide whether or not to let him go out on bail. If he stays in prison, that would hamper his actions in the Netherlands, and that would also affect the Communist movement here."

In fact, Raisa Espinosa-Robles thinks that, even if he is convicted in the Netherlands, the Philippine government will still not ask for him to be extradited:

"I'm very sure that Manila will be very happy to have him serve in the Netherlands, far away from here."

Raisa Espinosa-Robles says that, while Sison has always advocated an armed struggle, nowadays there are Communists who are seeking a political solution instead.

"So we don't know exactly at this point how much of Mr Sison's arrest and trial there would affect the movement here."

Open source intelligence

National Public Prosecutor John Lucas did not reveal the source of the information that led the Dutch police to act, pointing out that since the investigation is still going on, he can't say too much about it. But he spoke of receiving "open source intelligence" that the NPA has claimed responsibility for the murders.

Although Mr Sison has been on the EU's terrorist list for some time now, he has nevertheless been allowed to continue living freely on Dutch soil. John Lucas says there are humanitarian reasons:

"Well, the suspect wanted political asylum. It was not granted to him, but we couldn't send him back to the Philippines because we can't guarantee his safety. That's why, for humanitarian reasons, he could stay here."