Jose Maria Sison, the founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines, has died. He was 83 years old when he passed away in a hospital in Utrecht in The Netherlands, according to a spokesman.
For decades now Sison was the face and the driving force behind the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army and their seemingly never-ending armed insurgency against the Philippine government. It is now one of the longest-running insurgent movements in the world, and has caused untold suffering and misery to hundreds of thousands of Filipinos spanning different generations.
As we said in a previous editorial --one that also happened to be about another dead Philippine Communist movement leader-- we will never celebrate the death of anyone. For us any death is a tragedy, even of someone who didn’t contribute to the betterment of Philippine society.
However, we do see a good thing that may arise from the death of Sison; the collapse of the armed insurgency.
We say “may” because we also acknowledge the possibility that in their hearts the insurgents engaging in armed struggle in the last few forest bastions they have in the country may no longer consider Sison their true leader.
After all, he has lived a practically cushy and comfortable life in “exile” in Europe, always assured of food, a bed to sleep in, and a roof over his head --at one time he was even seen dancing with an actress-- while his armed cadres are starving in the forests, poorly clothed, poorly armed, and always fearful of being found by government forces that slowly whittle their numbers away.
In short, Sison did not really live like a communist, despite what he insisted on standing up for.
For all his supposed brilliance, Sison could not fathom the fact that Filipinos would not embrace communism. Let us hope those who took up arms against the duly-elected government of this country realize how lost their cause is.
May the death of Sison also bring about the death of this insurgency. If not that then its slow decline into something so irrelevant it will no longer be a threat to anyone.