MANILA, Philippines — Communist leaders Benito Tiamzon and his wife Wilma were killed in a legitimate military operation.
The military issued this clarification as it denounced the claims of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) that the two were tortured and killed by soldiers.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) maintained that the couple and eight other rebels died when their motorboat exploded in the waters off Catbalogan City in Samar following an encounter with government troopers last year.
“We have long suspected the deaths of CPP chairman Benito Tiamzon and his wife Wilma during an armed encounter with government troops on Aug. 22, 2022 in the seas of Catbalogan City, Samar, but we did not have the evidence to confirm it,” AFP spokesman Col. Medel Aguilar said.
Aguilar noted that the CPP’s allegations of capture and torture were ”part propaganda and an attempt to deceive the Filipino people.”
“What happened in the August 2022 operation was a legitimate encounter, acting on information that VIPs (very important persons) of the CPP-NPA (New People’s Army) were escaping from ongoing military operations. The AFP maintains that the operation succeeded, with the CPP-NPA’s confirmation of their casualties,” he said.
Aguilar said the reported deaths of the Tiamzon couple and CPP chairman emeritus Jose Maria Sison ”reveal the vacuum in the organizational and ideological leadership of the communist party.”
‘Summary killings’
Meanwhile, human rights alliance Karapatan called for an investigation into what it claimed as the “summary killings” of the Tiamzon couple and their companions.
Karapatan secretary-general Cristina Palabay said the killings were a clear violation of International Humanitarian Law, which prohibits harming of civilians and unarmed combatants.
Former Bayan Muna representative Carlos Zarate said the deaths of the Tiamzon couple would impact on the revolutionary movement and the peace talks.
In an interview with ”The Chiefs” on Cignal TV’s One News on Thursday night, Zarate noted that Benito was a leader of the CPP while Wilma was its consultant.
However, he said their deaths do not signal the end of the revolutionary movement.
”It is not dependent on personalities. For as long as the root causes of the armed conflict are not addressed, this will continue,” Zarate said. — Emmanuel Tupas, Sheila Crisostomo, Artemio Dumlao