No threats seen following Joma Sison's death - AFP

With the death of the CPP’s founding chairman Joma Sison, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) stated on Sunday that it does not currently foresee any issues coming from the CPP.

Acting AFP spokesperson Colonel Medel Aguilar made the statement in response to a question regarding whether there is anything the government troops should be on the lookout for in relation to the CPP-New People’s Army.

“Sa ngayon, wala naman kaming nakikitang problema or pangamba dahil sa pagkamatay ni Joma,” he said.

“In fact, tuloy-tuloy ‘yung pagbaba ng bilang ng kanilang mga kasapi at saka mga supporters. Patuloy din na bumabalik loob ‘yung kanilang mga armadong… ‘yung mga combatants nila tsaka ‘yung mga supporters nila, ‘yung mass bases and even some members of the underground mass organizations. Ito ay magandang indication,” he added.

Aguilar also emphasized that Sison’s passing might contribute to more peace in the nation even as the administration keeps up its community-level peace discussions.

The “greatest stumbling block of peace is gone,” the Department of National Defense declared on Saturday in response to Joma Sison’s passing.

“A new era without Jose Maria Sison dawns for the Philippines, and we will all be the better for it. The greatest stumbling block of peace for the Philippines is gone; let us now give peace a chance,” the DND said.

No threats seen following Joma Sison’s death – AFP

After spending two weeks in the hospital, Sison passed away about 8:40 p.m. (Philippine time), according to Marco Valbuena, chief information officer for CPP.

“His death deprived the Filipino people of the opportunity to bring this fugitive to justice under our country’s laws. Sison was responsible for the deaths of thousands of our countrymen. Innocent civilians, soldiers, police, child and youth combatants died because of his bidding,” the DND said.

“We call on the remaining few believers, who have unwittingly turned themselves into the enemy of the people, still blinded by Sison’s duplicitous and failed promises, to turn their backs on the violent and false ideology of the CPP-NPA-NDF.”

The DND added that five decades of aggression against the state and the Filipino people led to destruction and strife for thousands of Filipinos.

Sison had been in self-exile in the Netherlands since 1987.

Joma Sison, who was an activist, founded the leftist revolutionary organization CPP in December 1968.

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