by Jade Veronique Yap 

Jose Maria "Joma" Sison, the founding member of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), has passed away at the age of 83.

According to the CPP, Sison passed away at 8:40 p.m on Friday, December 16, after two weeks of confinement in a hopsital in Utrecht, The Netherlands.

"The greatest Filipino of the past century bereaved us peacefully last night. The Filipino proletariat and toiling people grieve the death of their teacher and guiding light. The entire Communist Party of the Philippines gives the highest possible tribute to its founding chairman, great Marxist-Leninist-Maoist thinker, patriot, internationalist, and revolutionary leader," it said. 

"Even as we mourn, we vow continue to give all our strength and determination to carry the revolution forward guided by the memory and teachings of the people's beloved Ka Joma," the statement added. 

Sison founded the CPP on Dec. 26, 1968 using the ideologies of Marxism, Leninism, and Maoism to aim for social reform in the country. 

He  was arrested in November 1977, during the Marcos presidency, and was imprisoned for almost 9 years. 

Sison was released from military detention by then-President Corazon Aquino in March 1896, after the EDSA People Power Revolution that booted the Marcoses out of the Malacanang. 

In 1987, Sison went into self-exile in the Netherlands and was recognized as a political refugee, after peace talks between the Philippine government and the CPP-NPA-NDFP collapsed.