Joma Sison no longer in control of CPP - Gonzales

Jose Ma. Sison has been ousted as the top leader of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales said on Sunday. Gonzales said Benito Tiamzon and his wife Wilma appear to be in control of the communist party. Benito is the CPP vice chairman while his wife is a member of the CPP Central Committee. Unlike Sison, who is in self-exile in the Netherlands, the couple is in the Philippines. “We have information that the Tiamzon couple is now the leaders of the communist movement. But we don’t know where they are," Gonzales said. Sison founded the CPP in 1968. Because of this development, the government is now studying whether or not to continue the peace negotiations with the CCP. “We have been talking with Joma Sison, but apparently he has been ousted as the top leader of the CPP," Gonzales said. The CPP and its armed wing, New People’s Army (NPA), are represented by the National Democratic Front (NDF) in the peace process. The formal talks bogged down in 2004 but government and NDF negotiators are trying to revive the negotiations. Gonzales said he is for the localized peace talks or “extensive peace talks with the NPAs at the grassroots level." He said he has already asked the Catholic church to lead the grassroots peace talks with the NPA rebels. - KBK, GMANews.TV