A Manila court has ordered the arrest of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria Sison, his wife and 37 other members of the organization for murder.
According to the warrant of arrest issued by Judge Thelma Bunyi-Medina of Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 32 on August 28, Sison and his co-accused were responsible for the “Inopacan massacre” in Leyte.
The Inopacan massacre was the alleged mass purging perpetrated by the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the CPP, in 1980s.
Judge Medina found a probable cause that the “accused committed the offense as charged in the amended information”.
Sison has been on exile in The Netherlands with his wife for over two decades.
Also ordered arrested were Rodolfo Salas, Leo Velasco, Jose Luneta, Geronimo Pasetes, Prudencio Calubid and Luis Jalandoni, a senior adviser of the CPP’s political arm, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.
The court recommended no bail for the accused.
The murder case against them was filed in 2006 after skeletal remains of 67 victims were exhumed from shallow graves in Subang Daku village, Inopacan town, Leyte, on August 28, 2006.
Last September 2, families of purging victims, during the 12th commemoration of the massacre, cried for justice for their loved ones who were summarily executed by communist rebels on the suspicion of their ties with the military.
The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines. (Erma Edera)
