The self-exiled communist leader has lived in Europe since the late 1980s
\n MANILA
\nPhilippine communist leader Jose Maria Sison died on Friday night at the age of 83 after a two-week confinement in a hospital in the Netherlands, his party said on Saturday.
\nSison is the founder of the Philippine Communist Party, whose military wing \u2014 the New People\u2019s Army (NPA) \u2014 has been waging an armed rebellion in one of the world\u2019s longest-running insurgencies. The conflict between the NPA and the Philippine government has killed more than 40,000 people.
\n\u201cThe Filipino proletariat and toiling people grieve the death of their teacher and guiding light,\u201d the party said in a statement on its website.
\nThe self-exiled communist leader has lived in Europe since the late 1980s, after his release from jail following the fall of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, whose namesake son was elected president in a May election this year.
\nSison was put on a US terrorist list in 2002, preventing him from traveling.
\nThe party said Sison died peacefully at around 8:40 p.m. on Friday after being confined in the hospital in Utrecht. It did not give a reason for Sison\u2019s confinement.
\n\u201cEven as we mourn, we vow (to) continue to give all our strength and determination to carry the revolution forward guided by the memory and teachings of the people\u2019s beloved Ka Joma,\u201d the party said.
\nSison was also known as Joma and \u201cKa\u201d means comrade.
\nPresident Marcos\u2019 predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, had prioritized ending the conflict when he took office in 2016, but he abandoned peace efforts, infuriated by repeated rebel attacks during the talks
\nAt its peak, the NPA had 25,000 armed fighters, but now has about 2,000, the military has said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The self-exiled communist leader has lived in Europe since the late 1980s MANILA Philippine communist leader Jose Maria Sison died on Friday night at the age of 83 after a two-week confinement in a hospital in the Netherlands, his party said on Saturday. Sison is the founder of the Philippine Communist Party, whose military wing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301870,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-301845","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n