By Christine F. Herrera

A LEFTIST lawmaker yesterday confirmed that the communists no longer take their orders from founding chairman Jose Ma. Sison, but dismissed reports of a power struggle led by party spokesman Gregorio Rosal.

“There is no need for his ouster. Sison now only provides ideological leadership from Utrecht, where he is based, Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo said in a telephone interview with Standard Today.

“The CPP [Communist Party of the Philippines] central committee based in the Philippines, led by Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, is the one providing the practical leadership that runs the day-to-day affairs.”

Ocampo said Sison was now the party’s chief political consultant and adviser while also serving on the communists’ negotiating panel with Luis Jalandoni.

Ocampo, a former negotiator for the communists, described as “wild speculation” reports that Ka Roger, as Rosal is known, was leading a faction to oust Sison.

“Unless it is declared as such by Ka Roger himself, then everything that the intelligence reports say... is nothing but wild speculation,” Ocampo said.

“We dismiss that theory. They are making wild speculations to discredit Singson and downgrade his role because they want him to come home and discuss peace here,” Ocampo said of National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales and his deputy director general, Avelino Razon.

Ocampo said Razon was being “misled” by intelligence reports that were the product of Gonzales’ imagination.

He also described the national security adviser as a “polluted source” because he was a founder of the Philippine socialist party, which had always been at odds with the communists.

“Since the 1960s, the Socdems [Social democrats] and the Natdems [National democrats] have always been at odds because of the opposing ideological views, so we know where Gonzales is coming from,” Ocampo said.

Ocampo also described as “old hat” claims that the communists now preferred parliamentary over armed struggle.

“The parliamentary struggle has long been in place. We are there already, aren’t we?” Ocampo said, referring to the six party-list seats that the militant left has won since 2004.

Ocampo said Gonzales had been doing his best to discredit the militant party-list groups, and was even responsible for the filing of rebellion charges against them.