National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon maintained Saturday the list he used to label some organizations as terrorists right in front of Supreme Court magistrates at recent proceedings was done with “sufficient” research and basis.
Esperon said Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison and 18 other individuals could file a petition with the Anti-Terrorism Council to be delisted as “terrorists.”
“[Fifteen] days they can file for delisting,” Esperon said at the Laging Handa public briefing.
This, amid calls by petitioners against the Anti-Terrorism Act to expunge or throw out his testimony in the high court oral arguments, where Esperon played two videos of CPP founder Jose Maria Sison supposedly naming allied organizations.
“We can assure you that the release of the list underwent sufficient research),” Esperon said, claiming the list was based on international listings.
Esperon said the list was based on a 2017 declaration of President Rodrigo Duterte, in which he tagged the CPP and the New People’s Army as “terrorists.”
The Anti-Terror Council, where Esperon is vice chair, had earlier filed a resolution echoing Duterte’s statement.
Esperon, during Wednesday’s Supreme Court oral arguments on petitions against the anti-terror law, played two videos of Sison allegedly naming “allied organizations” who mobilized tens of millions to support the so-called national democratic revolution.
He said provisions in the Anti-Terrorism Law allowed persons identified as “terrorists” to file for delisting.
The ATC described Sison and 18 others as terrorists. The designation authorizes the Anti-Money Laundering Council to freeze their assets.
Others in the list are Sison’s wife Julieta, Vicente Ladlad, Jorge Madlos, Adelberto Silva, Rey Casambre, Rafael Baylosis, and Wilma and Benito Tiamzon. The 19 are all members of the CPP’s Central Committee.