A first-person account of Loui Galicia, who was one, if not the first, to break the stories;

AUGUST 28, 2007
JOMA IS ARRESTED!


On Tuesday at 11 am, I was in the middle of writing an article from my last interview with Jose Maria Sison, when the phone rang.

My boss, ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau Chief Danny Buenafe asked me if I heard anything about Mr. Sison being arrested and asked me to pursue the story as he prepared to fly to Utrecht from London.

I rushed to do a search on the Internet and there was nothing yet from the Dutch news wires.

Calls I had made to Mr. Sison's house, the National Democratic Front Panel office, NDF Chairman Luis Jalandoni and others yielded no results, which left me very nervous.

Just the night before, I already started my article on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's plan to crack down on communist insurgency to which I had Mr. Sison's response as I had already anticipated this during my July 14th interview with him.

Seeing nothing in the news, I phoned Consul Adrian Cruz. The Philippine Embassy in the Hague was not aware of Mr. Sison being arrested and Mr. Cruz said that if such was the case, it might be that "steps are still being taken which follow the Dutch standard procedures before the Embassy is notified."

While frantic as to what was happening because nobody from Mr. Sison's camp could be reached, I then received a tip to check the OM website and voila, there was a short press statement on the CPP founding chair's arrest.

I then rushed to contact the Public Prosecutor's Office to confirm the events.

Mr. Sison was arrested at 09h30 by the International Crime Investigation Team of the Dutch National Criminal Investigation Department to face criminal charges for his alleged involvement in the assassinations of Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara that took place in Philippines.

Mr. Sison was arrested in Utrecht, where he is based. He was brought to the Scheveningen prison in The Hague.

At the same time, simultaneous raids were conducted in the apartments of Mr. Sison, the NDFP office in Utrecht and five Filipino houses . PC,s, CDs and documents were taken by the police from the raided establishments.

Wim de Bruin, the spokesman from the Dutch Public Prosecutor's Office told me in a telephone interview, that the Interpol was not involved because Mr. Sison was suspected to have ordered the murders from the Netherlands, which is a criminal act under the Dutch law.

The Dutch spokesman also said that it was only Mr. Sison who was arrested and that no other persons were arrested in connection with the charges. This was confirmed by Mr. Jalandoni, his wife Connie Ledesma and Aldo Gonzales who said they went through more than six hours of interrogation.

Mr. Gonzales told me that while he was being interrogated by the police, the phone at the NDF office was ringing non-stop and he was not allowed to answer it. I may have been one of the non-stop callers.

The police confiscated five computers, several diskettes, books and documents.

Mr. De Bruin said that Mr. Sison will be tried by a Dutch court and will not be expelled or deported to the Philippines.

This is the start of the Mr. Sison's saga which has kept all his sympathizers, the media and the Filipinos on their feet to follow the developments.. being such a big political case that shocked the world.

AUGUST 29, 2007
NO BAIL FOR JOMA!

On Wednesday, I called Mr. de Bruin again to give me more details surrounding the arrest, to which I learned that there will be no bail for Mr. Sison.

Mr. de Bruin said that walking out on bail is not a possibility under Dutch laws. He also revealed further details about Mr. Sison's arrest. "He was invited by the Dutch police to talk about some of the cases and then he was arrested," Mr. de Bruin said.

Early Wednesay morning, Mr. Jalandoni was interviewed live by ABS-CBN's "Umagang Kay Ganda" and he claimed that Mr. Sison was tricked into thinking that he was being called to report to the police station about other developments in his case.

Mr. de Bruin did not deny these allegations. "For sure it was a strategy because the police didn't want to raid his house and arrest him there. They thought it would be more careful to invite him to the police station and arrest him there," he explained.

Mr. de Bruin said that the Dutch police went to Manila during the investigation which started in 2006 and interviewed several witnesses but he did not reveal yet the incriminating evidences leading to Mr. Sison's arrest.

Mr. de Bruin also said that though the crimes were committed in 2003, it was only last year when the Dutch police received information about the possible involvement of Mr. Sison in the Tabara-Kintanar slays.

He declined to say if the incriminating information which led Dutch police to begin the investigation came from the Philippines and also declined to give details regarding possible telephone intercepts or wiretaps to Mr. Sison's house as part of the investigation.

The unedited audio of my interview with Mr. de Bruin was published the same day at ABS-CBN's news website: www.abs-cbnnews.com entitled PANAYAM.

AUGUST 30, 2007
PROTEST FOR JOMA!

The week before Mr. Sison's arrest, I received an invitation to cover a commemoration for the victims of forcible abductions in the Philippines event on Thursday.

Thursday's protest at the Dam Square centered on his arrest. The protesters didn't even wear veils as they had planned. They were all chanting for Mr. Sison's release.

An interview with Mr. Jalandoni that night revealed that Mr. Sison was in solitary confinement and that he was not allowed visits by his wife or read the newspaper and watch TV. More importantly, Mr. Jalandoni said that Mr. Sison was not allowed his medicine.

AUGUST 31, 2007
JOMA APPEARS IN COURT!

The following day, Friday, the same people and a lot of new faces, staged another rally in front of the Paleis van Justitie at the center of the Hague, where Mr. Sison was to appear in court at 13h00.

The Public Prosecutor's Office said that it will seek that Mr. Sison be incarcerated for an additional fourteen days.

Both sides were sure of winning.

Mr. de Bruin had been giving me signals of being very confident, in fact, he was already anticipating further interviews with me. "I think in the coming months, we will have much contact," Mr. de Bruin said.

On the Defence side, Mr. Sison's six lawyers planned to cite the July 2, 2007 ruling of the Philippine Supreme Court which nullified the charge of rebellion against Sison and 50 others and all specifications, including the cases on the Kintanar and Tabara killing incidents.

The ambiance in front of the Palace van Justitie was tense and anger raged from the protesters accusing the Dutch of violating Mr. Sison's rights because of his conditions in detention.

I then phoned the Ministry of Justice to get the side of the Dutch.

Amid an allegation of violation of rights of a detained Philippine communist leader, the Dutch Ministry of Justice said that the Netherlands prison system meets international standards.

Ministry of Justice Spokesman Hans Janssens reacted to Mr. Jalandoni's allegation of the Dutch government's "scandalous violation" of international laws and basic rights of Mr. Sison who was reportedly placed in solitary confinement days after his arrest. "I never heard that the Dutch prison system doesn't meet the international standards," Mr. Janssens said.

Mr. Janssens said that prisoners in the Netherlands are allowed to file complaints regarding their treatment.

Although Dutch government regulations do not allow Mr. Janssens to provide specific information on individual detainees, he explained that prisoners in the Netherlands have the same medical rights as people outside the prison.

Meanwhile, the decision was rendered.

After three hours of closed session hearing, the judge decided to keep Mr. Sison in solitary confinement for another fourteen days. Mr.Sison's lawyer Michiel Pestman noted that the prosecution still presented evidence used to back the multiple murder charges filed against Mr. Sison in the Philippines without taking into consideration the July 2 decision of the Philippine Supreme Court to dismiss the case.

The district court judge noted that he believes Mr. Sison may opt to escape should he be given temporary release and if this happens, the judge thinks that he may orchestrate further political killings in the Philippines.

The next court proceeding in Mr. Sison's case was set for Friday, September 7.

SEPTEMBER 6, 2007
THE SECOND STAGE!

Thursday, I had started reading and gathering materials for the proceedings for Mr. Sison's next court appearance, when it will be decided if he will be detained for a further "90" days.

Mr. Sison was scheduled to appear on Friday before the "Raadkamer," a kind of deliberating chamber consisting of three judges, to determine if he will remain in jail for a longer period of time.

This is the second stage of the investigation procedure on the murder cases against Mr. Sison.

Mr. de Bruin called me in the morning to tell me that he will not be available for an interview I had requested. However, from a casual conversation, I have received strong signals and vibes that the Prosecution is confident that they have a very strong case against Mr. Sison.

A source from the Paleis van Justitie, spoke to me on condition of anonymity and explained that the closed-door court proceedings Friday follow the normal standard operating procedure under Dutch law.

"The three judges will decide if he's going to stay a further three months. If they think there is enough serious reason to keep him during the investigation and in most murder cases, yeah, if this is the case they will do that," the source said.

SEPTEMBER 7, 2007
NINETY OR ZERO?

At 9 am, protesters demanding Mr. Sison's release started gathering in front of the Paleis van Justitie.

They were only permitted to hold the protest until 10:30 am. The crowd wasn't that big contrary to expectations, but significantly strong because the personalities there were the leaders of various groups like Grace Punongbayan of Migrante, Chito Taguba of Rice & Rights, Consie Lozano of Liga ng Kabataang Pilipino, Jun Saturay of Rice & Rights, Boyen Baleva of PPT, Angelica Gonzales of PPT, Coni Ledesma of Makibaka and NDF's Mr. Jalandoni, and Fidel Agcaoili. Solidarity groups from other countries joined in the protest as well; Turkey Arbeiders Ver., ATIK from Turkey, ICAD (International Oraganisations Against Disappearances, VEKSAN-AVEG-KON, ILPS (International League of People's Struggle) and Anti-Imperialist Platform-Surinam.

Mr. Agcaoili just arrived from a trip abroad and missed the raid at the NDF's office.

I talked to Mrs. Sison about the state of her husband in solitary confinement. She said that Mr. Sison would always show that he can withstand any condition or state he's subjected to, because it is in his nature to be strong.

She also talked about how she missed Mr. Sison. She hasn't seen him for exactly 10 days and with the start of the cold nights signaling the approaching autumn, the absence of her lifetime partner becomes unbearable, especially when she puts her hand to touch the other half of their bed which is empty.

As the minutes passed, close to 10:30 am, the protesters started singing and then they formed a line and started dancing.

Then, there was a slight chaos.

A Dutch woman and a Dutch man who identified himself to me as Jan, started talking to Mr. Jalandoni and some others about meeting somebody from the Prosecutor's office. I rushed to hear what he was saying. He was saying that Mr. Sison will get ninety days.

I interviewed him and asked who he saw come out of the Raadkamer. He said he saw somebody get out of the building who is from the Prosecution, who told him that what the protesters were doing is dangerous.

I asked him why this person from the Prosecution said that these people are doing something "dangerous."

He shouted, "Because he said that Joma Sison is guilty!"

I didn't get his affiliation and having been in constant contact with the Public Prosecutor's Office, I knew that this guy can not be a credible source.

As far as what Mr. de Bruin told me, I will not be able to interview the Prosecutor this day because the hearing will be conducted in closed session and he will not be immediately available.

At 11 am, the crowd dispersed and started to prepare to travel back to their cities in Utrecht, Amsterdam, and other cities in Holland.

I went back to draft my initial report and then I got a phone call that the three judges will issue their decision on Thursday, September 13.

The number 13 is always associated with bad luck and someone will definitely be unlucky this coming Thursday, the 13th.

SEPTEMBER 12
THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS!

Wednesday easily came by because everybody had a little respite from all the stresses brought by the Joma Sison case.

Even Mr. Sison's lawyers and the Prosecution team must have passed the days quietly because all contradicting documents and material from the two opposing sides are now in the hands of the three judges of the Raadkamer, under close scrutiny.

The fate of Mr. Sison, whether to stay in prison until December is in the hands of these judges.

I went to bed early, anticipating a busy Thursday, the 13th.

At midnight, I received a text message that Mr. Sison will be detained for a further 90 days, based on what Mr. Jalandoni said.

I was surprised. How come the decision was issued before the actual scheduled delivery by the court?

SEPTEMBER 13
THE BIG DAY...ALL OR NOTHING!

Early Thursday morning, I received NDF's press statement, with Mr. Jalandoni openly condemning the "decision" to extend Mr. Sison's incarceration.

It didn't say however, at what time the decision was delivered so I was again surprised that the announcement came in too early.

Then, as I was drafting an update for ABS-CBN's website, I received a tip that isn't to be leaked yet to the media that Mr. Sison will be released.

I immediately contacted Mr. de Bruin about the two conflicting reports. I just called in the nick of time and he confirmed that Mr. Sison is indeed being released.

Yet again, he directed me to the court press where I got hold of the official statement, hot from the oven.

I told Mr. de Bruin that I will phone him again. I just had to break the news without wasting any second.

As soon I got confirmation, I emailed Manila newsdesk with only the subject line: JOMA IS BEING RELEASED TODAY.

Knowing that I will be getting a barrage of phone calls from Manila later, I emailed the court statement immediately to Eddie Flores of Munting Nayon, (as requested by him) for inclusion in his BREAKING NEWS on Joma Sison's release on the MN website.

By 12:15, Mr. Flores was already at the gate of the Scheveningen detention center, with ready-to-shoot camera, waiting for Joma at the exit gate to appear, scheduled for release at 12:30.

I then phoned Mr. de Bruin, because apart from the fact that Mr. Sison is being released due to insufficient evidence, the status of the charges is not clear.

"The charges are not dropped. The court thought there was not enough [evidence] to keep Mr. Sison in custody," Mr. de Bruin said.

The Prosecutor's office will appeal the decision. Mr. de Bruin said that the investigation will be continued and that Mr. Sison is still a suspect.

At 2:30 pm, I phoned Mr. Sison's home and I was informed that he's still not there. I then phoned the NDF office and Mr. Gonzales told me that they are also in the dark as to when he will be definitely out of prison because both Mr. Jalandoni and Mrs. Sison who are in front of the Scheveningen prison were still waiting for Mr. Sison.

After 15 minutes, I called Mr. Gonzales again who happily told me that Mr. Sison is definitely out now, in the hands of his wife and Mr. Jalandoni, and at that moment very busy answering questions left and right from the media that swarmed him. It was just over 14:30, September 13, 2007.

Munting Nayon was there to take the exclusive, first shots of Mr. Sison as he exited the prison with a smile... that seems to send a loud message of "I shall not return!"