MANILA, Philippines—You can “poke” Joma, send him a message or gift him with a red flag and virtual copy of “The Communist Manifesto.”
Jose Maria Sison, founding chair of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), apparently digs the hugely popular social networking site Facebook that Barack Obama himself used in his successful campaign for the US presidency.
Here, Sison, on self-exile in the Dutch city of Utrecht, keeps in touch with more than 1,200 friends from around the world, among them fellow revolutionaries, militants, journalists and, yes, even sexy star Asia Agcaoili.
And while he became tech-savvy only recently, the 69-year-old leader of the party tagged by the United States as a terrorist organization adapts to cyber-cool and simply uses his nickname for his online persona.
Sison’s latest status update, a Facebook feature where users talk about their current state of mind, recent activity or any message, reads in apparent reference to yesterday’s 40th CPP anniversary: “Joma Sison is conveying the season’s greetings to everyone and celebrating a historic event.”
On the other hand, the CPP’s birthday statement was true to its cause, unveiling a five-year plan to step up the insurgency and establish a Marxist state. This includes battling officials “perpetrating treason, plunder and human rights violations.”
His Facebook page is Sison’s alternate outlet to his presence on video-sharing website YouTube and his official website, a rather formal .org bearing his full name where his writings and information on his legal cases are posted.
“It is meant to reach a wider audience and to show people another side of Joma, that he’s not a foreign terrorist but someone funny. It gives you an idea what kind of person he is,” said Renato Reyes Jr. of the leftist group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan.
“You can interact with him and when he can respond, he will discuss with you issues like the global economic crisis,” Reyes said.
“Seven years ago, Joma would not go near a computer. He was initially intimidated by the technology of the Internet. But he got into the World Wide Web in 2001. It was a complete transformation; he’s now Internet-savvy and uses different platforms,” Reyes said.
