CPP claims Benito, Wilma Tiamzon dead  

MANILA, Philippines —  The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) yesterday confirmed the deaths of its leaders, Benito Tiamzon and his wife Wilma Austria-Tiamzon, but claimed they did not die from an encounter in Catbalogan, Samar last year, but were actually tortured and killed by the military.

Marco Valbuena, chief information officer of the CPP, confirmed that their top-ranking leaders and eight others died “after they were captured, tortured then killed.”

The CPP disputed the government’s version that the Tiamzons and their other companions were killed in a clash with state security forces.

Instead, it claimed that the couple and others were tortured and killed by the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) after they were captured on Aug. 21 while traveling to Catbalogan City aboard two vans. The CPP said they were flagged down between noon and 1 p.m. “after which all communications with the group were lost. They were unarmed.”

“The claimed mid-sea firefight and explosion were all a drama hatched by the AFP and its US military advisers, to hide all evidence of the ignominy of their fascist crime. In truth, the already lifeless bodies of the Tiamzons and their group were dumped on a motorboat filled with explosives and tugged from Catbalogan midway towards Taranganan island before it was detonated. Only eight bodies were subsequently retrieved by the military,” the CPP said.

The CPP said Benito, 71, was chairman of the CPP Executive Committee, while Wilma, 70, was the CPP’s secretary general at the time of their “murder” and were traveling with Ka Divino (Joel Arceo), a subregional secretary in Eastern Visayas, along with Ka Yen, Ka Jaja, Ka Matt, Ka Ash, Ka Delfin, Ka Lupe, Ka Butig (Catbalogan 10), who all belonged to the guerrilla force of the central headquarters.

The CPP said it took several weeks to establish the veracity of the reports which the AFP released in August last year, noting that it also had to conduct months of investigation “to piece together the details of the capture and subsequent massacre of the Tiamzons.”

“The murder of the Tiamzons follow the pattern of the willful killings perpetrated by the AFP against captured revolutionaries. The same cruel and cowardly methods were used in the killing of Jorge Madlos (Ka Oris), Menardo Villanueva (Ka Bok), Antonio Cabantan (Ka Manlimbasog), Julius Giron (Ka Nars) and a number of others,” the party alleged.

Valbuena said that at the break of dawn on April 24, the 50th anniversary of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), all units of the New People’s Army (NPA) were directed to stand in formation and silently perform a 21-gun salute “by way of paying respects and giving the highest salute to the Tiamzon couple.”

DNA test

There is no word yet on the results of the DNA tests conducted on the human remains believed to be from communist rebel leaders Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, according to Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr.

“We have yet to officially receive the report of the Forensic Group regarding the DNA test so that we can compare it with the declaration that the Tiamzon couple is already dead,” Azurin said yesterday.

The AFP earlier said it is waiting for the results of the DNA test being conducted by the PNP.

Fabricated story

Responding to the accusations of torture and murder, National Security Adviser Eduardo Año lashed back at the CPP for allegedly fabricating a story to suit their propaganda.

“We have long suspected that they have been killed in a clash with government forces last year. Finally, the terrorists have been forced to admit what many of us have suspected many, many months ago,” Año said in a statement.

“With the death of CPP founder Jose Maria Sison and now the Tiamzon couple, the Communist Terrorist Group (CTG) is now headless with no clear national leadership. They have lost both their guiding light in the person of Joma and their commander in the Tiamzons and are now groping in the dark with no direction nor future in sight,” he added.

“They are now trapped in their own web of lies which deserves scant comment. Needless to say, there is no truth whatsoever in this clearly fabricated story and we stand by the official reports from the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” he said.

Año said the death of the Tiamzons is just the latest in the CPP’s string of defeats, which includes the recent arrest of Eric Jun Casilao in Langkawi, Malaysia in a successful joint law enforcement operation with the Malaysian authorities.

Año said the death of the Tiamzons and the arrest of Casilao “show that terrorists cannot find a safe haven anywhere in the world, be it in the mountains or in other countries. The government is determined to capture terrorist leaders wherever they are. The long arm of the law will always reach the criminal wherever he may be.”

He said the National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) continues to extend the hand of unity and peace to the remaining members of the CPP-NPA-NDF. – Artemio Dumlao