Montreal's Filipino community and their supporters are picketing the Dutch Consulate and Canadian government offices at Place Guy Favreau, calling for a halt to political witch-hunts against Filipino progressives living in the Netherlands. Jose Maria Sison, a leading figure in the Philippine revlutionary movement, exiled as a political refugee in the Netherlands, has been targeted as a terrorist by the US government.

Stop the persecution of Jose Maria Sison
by Malcolm Guy and Marie Boti, Centre for Philippine Concerns (Montréal)

Members of Montreal's Filipino community and their supporters are
holding a picket line today in front of the Consulate General of the
Netherlands and Canadian government offices at Place Guy Favreau.
Their demands: to stop a political witch-hunt against Filipino
progressives living in the Netherlands who have been targeted as
terrorists by the US government.

Marie Boti and myself, Malcolm Guy, documentary filmmakers who have
made several films on the Philippines including the award winning
"Modern Heroes, Modern Slaves," will be among the demonstrators. We
are very concerned about the expanding war against "terror" and the
increasing attacks on the basic human rights of refugees and asylum
seekers, including Jose Maria Sison and other political refugees in
the Netherlands.  The timing of the witch-hunt corresponds with a
major military offensive underway in the Philippines that includes
thousands of American troops. We observed firsthand the devastating
impact of this war during our voyage to the southern Philippine
countryside in July.

We are concerned that the peace talks between the revolutionary
forces and the Philippine government, underway for 10 years, are
being jeopardized. Our action today follows other protests that have
been held in Toronto, Vancouver as well as Europe, the Philippines,
India and around the world.

Why a march to the Dutch embassy? In August the US government
declared unilaterally that two major revolutionary groups in the
Philippines, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New
People's Army (NPA), were to be included on the list of foreign
terrorist organizations. Jose Maria Sison, a leading figure in the
Philippine revlutionary movement now living in the Netherlands, was
subsequently classified as a "terrorist" by Dutch authorities. His
bank account (used to deposit the social assistance checks he lives
on) was frozen, his health insurance terminated and his rented flat
taken away. This is despite the fact that since 1992, the highest
administrative court of the Netherlands, the Raad Van State, has
recognized him as a political refugee.

Sison and his wife, Julieta Sison de Lima, herself a political
refugee, now face severe economic hardship and there are rumours that
the Dutch and US authorities are planning to extradite Sison to the
US.

Why is it important to stop this political witch-hunt? Jose Maria
Sison is the Chief Political Consultant of the National Democratic
Front of the Philippines (NDFP), which has been holding peace
negotiations in good faith with the Government of the Republic of the
Philippines (GRP) since 1992. The talks have been facilitated by the
Dutch, Belgian and Norwegian governments and supported by the
European Parliament. The NDFP continues to adhere to the
Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights and International Law, which
was also signed by the government of the Philippines.

The peace talks are important because the NDFP, which includes the
CPP and NPA, is a major force on the Philippine political scene. The
movement is active in virtually all Philippine provinces and has an
estimated 12,000 guerilla troops. These organizations are the most
vocal opponents to US political, economic and military presence in
the Philippines. They call for fundamental changes in their society,
but have shown a desire to find peace with justice. In undertaking
the  peace talks, the Philippine government has in practice for the
last decade recognized the NDFP as a legitimate liberation movement
that it must contend with.

As one of the founders of this movement, the persecution of Prof.
Sison and Ms Julieta Sison de Lima is undermining these peace-making
efforts.

But it is also a question of fundamental human rights and the
protection of the rights of refugees and asylum seekers.

A political animal, Sison has a long history of service to the
Filipino people's movement as a poet, political commentator and
organizer. He was imprisoned and tortured during the regime of
dictator Ferdinand Marcos and was released under Marcos' successor,
President Corazon Aquino. He was forced to seek asylum in the
Netherlands when the Philippine authorities stripped him of his
passport in 1988.

The people marching today believe that the actions of the Dutch
government are undermining the promotion of democracy and human
rights in the Philippines along with the peace process. We believe
the dignity and honour of the Dutch government, with its exemplary
tradition of providing asylum to refugees, is being compromised by
persecuting an individual working for peace and justice in his
homeland.

We are not alone. Sison has received wide support including 22
Europarlementarians, Dutch clergymen, Archbishop Joris Vercammen of
the Old Catholic Church of Utrecht and Dominee Hans Visser of Paulus
of Rotterdam, as well as the President of his alma mater, the
University of the Philippines and a former head of peace negotiations
for the Philippine government.

We hope this number will grow after today's action in Montreal and
the attacks against Prof. Sison will come to an end, his rights as a
refugee will be restored and the peace talks allowed to get back on
track.

On this day, we are also addressing our concerns to the Government of
Canada to raise our issues with Dutch authorities and to reverse
Canada's erroneous recent decision to follow Washington's lead in
classifying the Philippine organizations as "terrorist".

We reiterate our request that the Dutch government respect the basic
rights of political refugees under the Refugee Convention and the
European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms. This will restore the prestige of the
Netherlands in this area of democracy, human rights and peace
building in the Asia-Pacific region.

Please join us at 11am today Wednesday October 2, 2002 in front of the Dutch consulate.