Joma Sison, inalala

Ilang araw matapos pumanaw ang Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder na si Jose Maria Sison, inalala ng ilang mga malalapit na kaibigan at kaanak ang buhay ng nasabing communist leader.

Muling nabuhay ang mga alaala ni Sison sa pamamagitan ng mga sinulat niyang tula na binabasa gabi-gabi sa kanyang lamay sa Utrecht, The Netherlands at nagsimula ang lamay noong December 18. Ilan sa mga tula na binasa ay ang 'What Makes a Hero,' 'Stages of My Life,' 'I am Determined to Rise' at 'Guerrilla is a Poet.' Madamdamin ang mga salitang hinabi ni Sison na sumalamin sa kanyang pakikibaka, sa idelohiyang niyakap at kilusang kanyang sinimulan.

Paliwanag ni Sison tungkol sa kanyang mga tula noong siya'y nabubuhay pa: "If you trace the courses of the 'Stages of My Life', the stories are simple and easy to recall with a head and heart. 'In the Spring of My Life', I observed the hardship of the toiling masses around me. My heart and spirit were moved. 'In the Summer of My Life', I decided to fight the oppressors and exploiters. I was tempered in the flames of struggle."

"The demons are laughing, they say I have fallen. But the people's movement in the whole country is advancing. The red flag flew high, wafted by a powerful wind." "It is not the matter of death that makes a hero. It is the meaning of life drawn, there is a hero who dies on the battlefield, there is a hero who dies of hunger and disease, there is a hero who dies of self-accident, and there is a hero who dies of old age. Whatever the manner of death, there is a common denominator. A hero serves the people to their very last breath" – Jose Maria Sison, December 1977.

Ilan sa malalapit na kaibigan ni Sison ang nagbigay ng pananalita tungkol sa mga alaala nila kay Sison. Anila, anuman ang tingin ng publiko at media kay Sison, mananatili siyang ama ng rebolusyon ng Pilipinas, mabuting tao, kaibigan, at guro.

Simple lang ang burol ng founder ng Communist Party of the Philippines at New People's Army. Gawa sa kahoy ang kabaong at binalutan ng bandila na simbolo ng komunismo at ilang flower arrangements at mga larawan ni Sison sa paanan nito.

Nagpasalamat naman ang maybahay ni Sison na si Julie de Lima sa mga nakidalamhati sa pagpanaw ng kanyang kabiyak.

"Thank you everyone for the comfort you are giving me. It makes empty days bearable, it makes me keep on working on the things we planned to finish together which he left me to finish. With your support and the strength you are giving me, I think I will prevail. I will finish all the books we planned to publish," sabi ni de Lima.