Gov’t: No immunity for CPP chief, wife

MANILA, Philippines - The government yesterday stood firm on the validity of the arrest last weekend of Communist Party of the Philippines leaders Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, rejecting the CPP’s claim that they are covered by immunity.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima explained that the Tiamzon couple could not invoke immunity under the Joint Agreement of Safety and Immunity Guarantees since this was not verified and that the JASIG cannot apply in the absence of peace negotiations.

“The claim of the National Democratic Front (NDF) that they are covered by JASIG is questionable and the government panel also has no validation of that. There was failed verification,” she explained.

“Assuming that they are covered by JASIG, they cannot invoke such immunities which presuppose the existence of a peace negotiation. In other words, there is no ongoing peace process or peace negotiation so such guarantees are not operational,” she added.

De Lima stressed that the JASIG mechanism cannot apply in criminal cases, as it was not meant to undermine the criminal justice system.

“The existing warrants of arrest have not been nullified so they’re presumed to be valid and regular and have been issued in the ordinary course of things. It went through the right process so it should be implemented,” she added.

Government peace panel chair Alexander Padilla also said yesterday that Benito and Wilma Tiamzon are not covered by the JASIG that was signed by the government and the CPP in 1995.

In an interview over radio dzRH, Padilla noted the couple’s arrest in Cebu last Saturday was legal.

“The Tiamzon couple is not part of the peace talks. If you remember in July 2011, it was part of the agreements in JASIG to have what is called verification process,” he claimed.

Padilla said through this verification process, it was established that the Tiamzon couple has not been included in the list of people that should be covered by the JASIG.

“This is not the fault of the government but the NDF. They are the ones who provided the list,” he maintained.

De Lima said the Tiamzon couple could still avail of other legal remedies, including possible filing of a plea for habeas corpus.

She said the arrest of the Tiamzon couple was pursuant to warrants of arrest issued by courts in at least two criminal cases filed against them.

Authorities said Benito is the chairman of the CPP and head of the New People’s Army, while his wife Wilma is secretary-general of the party.

Police and military units arrested the couple in Aloguinsan, Cebu.

“There are outstanding warrants of arrest. There are two confirmed cases: one involves the mass grave in Inopacan, Leyte and there’s another case in Northern Samar. Therefore, it was just right for the PNP and AFP to implement the warrants,” she told reporters.

De Lima was referring to the case involving the killing of 15 civilians at Sitio Sapang Daco, Barangay Kaulisihan, Inopacan, Leyte in 1985. The bodies were discovered in a mass grave by members of the Philippine Army’s 43rd Infantry Brigade on Aug. 26, 2006.

At the time of the Inopacan killings, Benito was reportedly secretary-general of the CPP’s Eastern Visayas Regional Party Committee.

Aside from the Tiamzons, also charged in connection with the Inopacan killing were former Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Saturnino Ocampo and CPP-NDF consultants Randall Echanis, Rafael Baylosis and Vicente Ladlad.

Former government peace negotiator and now 1BAP party-list Rep. Silvestre Bello III confirmed that Wilma Tiamzon is covered by JASIG and her inclusion was approved by then government peace panel head Howard Dee in 1995.

Bello said Mrs. Tiamzon’s name was included in the JASIG list now in a safety box at a bank in The Hague, the Netherlands.

Bello said aside from Wilma, among those in the JASIG list were NDF chairman Luis Jalandoni, Fidel Agcaoili and Ruth de Leon.

However, Bello said he did not recall the inclusion of Benito Tiamzon.

He said Benito could be among those over 70 leftist personalities listed in the JASIG that used their aliases.

Jalandoni in an earlier statement said Benito assumed the alias Crising Banaag in the JASIG list with serial no. ND 978227.

New charges

Police also filed yesterday charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives against the Tiamzon couple.

Senior Superintendent Robert Fajardo, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-National Capital Region, said the arresting team seized four firearms and two hand grenades from the safehouse where the Tiamzons and five others were arrested.

The Tiamzon couple, Nona Castillo, Joel Enano, Arlene Panea, Rex Villaflor and Jeosi Nepa were detained at the Custodial Center at Camp Crame in Quezon City.

Fajardo said charges of harboring criminals were filed against the five companions of the couple.

The inquest proceedings, done behind closed doors, were held at the Multi-Purpose Hall inside Camp Crame yesterday.

“They were subjected to inquest proceedings here based on the authority of the Department of Justice,” Fajardo told reporters.

Although illegal possession of firearms is a bailable offense, police authorities said illegal possession of explosives is non-bailable.

For their part, the lawyers of the accused questioned the basis for the charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

Rachelle Pastores, lawyer of the Tiamzons and the five other suspects, said that her clients were merely keeping cats and puppies and not firearms and explosives in the house.

She also questioned the venue of the proceedings because the accused were arrested in Cebu, thus the inquest should have been conducted in Cebu.

“We are questioning the holding of the inquest proceedings and the authority of the inquest officers to do so. It was supposed to be done immediately after they were arrested,” said Pastores. “We will not recognize this process.”

Fajardo, however, justified the venue of proceedings, saying the DOJ could conduct inquest anywhere.

Since the Tiamzon camp was questioning the inquest, the lawyers and their clients virtually walked out by asking the authorities for permission to skip the process.

“We left them there and unilaterally, they hold the inquest proceedings against our clients,” said Pastores, who added they would raise the issue of jurisdiction in the proper forum.

The Tiamzons and their companions wore handcuffs and shouted: “tuloy ang laban (on with the fight)” as they were escorted back to the Custodial Center by their guards.

With the lawyers and accused leaving the venue of proceedings, Fajardo said they waived their rights to attend the proceedings.

President Aquino believes the arrest of the Tiamzons had dealt a “serious blow” to the insurgents.

According to Aquino, also commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the couple’s capture “shows you the competency of our security forces,” considering that Wilma managed to escape from jail 25 years ago, in 1989.

“And when they (Tiamzons) were arrested, the report that I read in the papers says talks of hand grenades and pistols being in their possession, something which normally does not occupy the belongings of a peace negotiator,” he pointed out.

Aquino said he was not surprised with their arrest in Cebu over the weekend primarily because they were the ones he was referring to – in an interview last week – as the fugitives who were about to be arrested by authorities.

At the same time, he brushed aside threats by the CPP and NPA of retaliatory attacks following the arrest of the Tiamzon couple, noting this was nothing new.

“The attacks have not ceased. So, what are they saying? For them, it’s business as usual I guess,” Aquino retorted, referring specifically to threats issued by CPP founder Jose Ma. Sison who has been in exile in the Netherlands for decades.

He also downplayed any impact it will have on the stalled negotiations between the left and the government headed by chief negotiator Alex Padilla.

“Does it have an impact? I don’t think so. It really depends on their willingness to go back to the bargaining table.”

Nonetheless, questions on whether the arrest of the two CPP officials would be tantamount “to stamping out the insurgency movement” would largely depend on the government’s efforts to solve its root cause – poverty.

“We have to deal with the root causes of the problem,” he reiterated.

The AFP had mobilized units to arrest more NPA leaders operating in Northern Mindanao and Davao.

The targets of the military are Jorge Madlos and Leoncio Pitao.

Madlos is Tiamzon’s operator in Northern Mindanao and is spokesman of the NDF in the region, while Pitao is head of the NPA’s Pulang Bagani Command operating in Davao.

“We expect some good results within this month,” a source said.

2 soldiers killed

Two soldiers were killed while four others were wounded after they were ambushed by NPA members at Barangay Cogorin in Ilaya Lopez, Quezon yesterday morning.

Lt. Col. Lloyd Cabacungan, Southern Luzon Command (Solcom) spokesman, said at around 7:30 a.m., members of the Army 85th Infantry Battalion were on their way to a medical mission in Barangay Vegaflor when they were ambushed by the rebels.

Cabacungan identified the slain soldiers as 1st Lieutenant Ray June Blancada and Private First Class Mark Malabanan, while the wounded were Corporal Michael Mendaro, Privates First Class JZ Wilbourne Nisperos, Francis Marcaida and Jomar Gruta.

Mendaro and Nisperos were brought to the AFP Medical Center in Quezon City while Marcaida and Gruta were treated at Solcom hospital.

The military could not say whether the ambush staged by communist rebels in Quezon was in retaliation for the arrest of the Tiamzon couple.

“We cannot determine if this is retaliation but this is violence not only against the armed forces but the community itself,” Armed Forces public affairs chief Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala said.

“We have to take note that this group of soldiers from the 85th Infantry Battalion were on their way to a medical mission,” he added.

Zagala said the NPA has been staging similar attacks even before the arrest of the Tiamzons.

Solcom chief Lt. General Caesar Ronnie Ordoyo said the rebel attack was proof that the NPA violated the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) since the soldiers were going to help 700 families seeking medical assistance.

The medical mission of the military and local officials of Lopez, however, was conducted despite the ambush.

Ordoyo added that the attack was apparently in retaliation for recent arrests of local rebel leaders by the military.

He said the Solcom had already intensified military operations in Southern Luzon against the communist insurgents to preempt any plans by the rebels to launch attacks to commemorate the NPA’s 45th Founding Anniversary on March 29.

Communist guerillas reported that two government troops were wounded last Friday after they were attacked by rebel snipers in Asipulo, Ifugao.

Wigan Moncontad, spokesperson for the Ifugao-based Nona del Rosario Command of the NPA, in a statement claimed that two soldiers from the 54th Infantry Battalion were wounded after they were hit by rebel snipers in Barangay Camandag in Asipulo.

Moncontad said the government troopers were conducting combat operations when they were attacked.

But Cordillera police spokesperson Superintendent Davy Limmong said that only one soldier was wounded.

The military also did not confirm the casualties but Moncontad said such “tactical losses” by soldiers will surely be kept secret from the public to cover up alleged blunders.

Solcom chief Ordoyo said a ranking NPA leader in Quezon surrendered to members of the Philippine Army 74th IB headed by Brig. Gen. Alex Capiña last Wednesday.

He identified the rebel as Arjie Bulalaque, former finance officer of the “Berto Platoon” of the NPA.

Bulalaque decided to surrender to the government troops and leave the CPP-NPA after learning the surrender of most of his comrades and the recent surrender of his brother Arnel.

During interrogation, Bulalaque said he belongs to a family of rebels in Quezon.

His father, known as “Ka Black” and a hardcore rebel in the province, died of a lingering illness.

He recalled his father never received any medicine or any support from the NPA when he was still in the revolutionary movement.

An alleged teenaged NPA rebel surrendered to the military on Sunday in Bukidnon.

Col. Nilo Vinluan, commanding officer of the Army’s 57th IB, said the 15-year-old identified only as Ka Balong, son of a former militiaman in Valencia City in Bukidnon, will be turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development for rehabilitation.

Vinluan said the boy decided to surrender to to be reunited with his family in Bukidnon.

The teenaged guerilla told investigators that he joined the NPA after rebels executed his father two years ago and threatened to prosecute the entire family for conniving with the Army’s pacification campaign in Valencia City.

He said there are still nine other minors in their group, whose camp he left last weekend as he ran away and turned himself in to authorities in the boundary of Magpet, North Cotabato and Kidapawan City.

Vinluan said Ka Balong walked for 13 hours in the forest until he reached Kidapawan City where community leaders helped facilitate his surrender.

Army soldiers in Panay were ordered to remain vigilant in anticipation of rebel attacks in the coming days.

Brig. Gen. Arnold Quiapo, commander of the 301st IB based in Camp Hernandez, Dingle, Iloilo, said attacks could be related to the coming anniversary of the NPA or in retaliation for the arrest of the Tiamzons.

Army troops have been on red alert status for the past two weeks.

 With Delon Porcalla, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Rhodina Villanueva, Sheila Crisostomo, Paolo Romero, Alexis Romero, Ed Amoroso, Raymund Catindig, Michelle Zoleta, Jennifer Rendon, Aretemio Dumlao, Juancho Mahusay, John Unson