Joma Sison, Founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines, Has Died at 83

Jose Maria Sison, the founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines, has passed away at 83 years old. Sison died in a hospital in the Netherlands, where he has lived under political asylum since 1988. 

Sison leaves behind a controversial legacy. Former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr. declared Martial Law in 1972, citing communist rebel threats after Sison founded the CPP in 1968. 

Sison was imprisoned for almost nine years during Martial Law and was eventually released in 1986 by the government of former Corazon Aquino. In 1988, Sison began his self-imposed exile in Utrecht, Netherlands as a political refugee. 

Sison was the leader of the longest-running communist insurgency in Asia. Since the CPP's founding, the organization has opposed the government.

From Aquino's administration to Duterte's, Sison oversaw on-and-off peace talks between the government, CPP, and its armed branch, the New People's Army.

Read more: Jose Maria Sison on the Purpose and Cost of Armed Struggle