Student Christian Movement of the Philippines
NCCP Compound,  879 Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, Quezon City, Philippines
Mobile Hotline: 09289526973                     e-mail:  scmp.infomedia@gmail.com
Convenor: TANGGULAN Youth Network for Human Rights and Civil Liberties

News Release

August 29, 2007

Christian students demand release of Prof. Sison

The Student Christian Movement of the Philippines joined other progressive youth organizations in a protest action today calling for the immediate release of Prof. Jose Ma. Sison.

"We are praying for his safety and well-being, but we cannot endure sitting back knowing that the arrest of Prof. Sison is an attack to civil liberties," Student Christian Movement of the Philippines chairperson Dion Carlo Cerrafon said.

Sison, founding chairperson of Kabataang Makabayan, was arrested yesterday in The Hague, Netherlands for multiple murder charges whom he allegedly ordered from the Netherlands against persons in the Philippines.

"We have long took inspiration from the ideals and views of Prof. Sison of Philippine society, especially the militant tradition of KM. We all know that these charges are all made up to suppress his influence in the people's movement in the Philippines," Cerrafon

SCMP also expressed fears that this might be another precedent to escalated attacks against civil liberties and human rights in the country.

"This incident is in accordance to the Arroyo government's moves to silence critics and quell dissent. Arroyo and her minions have been consistent in tagging progressive organizations as terrorists. After Sison's arrest, we fear of more illegal arrests and harassment cases especially under the implementation of the Anti-Terror Law," Cerrafon said.

The group also said Arroyo is a liar saying that she was surprised of Sison's arrest, knowing that it is the Arroyo government in particular that pushed for the inclusion of Sison and others in the terrorist listing of the European Union and the United States governments.

"This is not the path to peace. All democracy-loving Filipinos should pressure the Dutch government to release Sison," Cerrafon said.



"We appeal to the Dutch government to release Prof. Sison and dismiss the baseless charges against him. We pray that the Dutch government do not allow the Philippine government to use them to further expand its counter-terrorism campaign against its own people," Cerrafon ended. ###


 Reference: Ma. Cristina Guevarra, information officer (0919-6750629)

Dion Carlo Cerrafon, SCMP chairperson (09192766221)