MANILA, Philippines — The Armed Forces of the Philippines applauded its troops after the Communist Party of the Philippines confirmed the military's killing of their leaders Benito and Wilma Tiamzon. They, however, maintained that they neither captured nor tortured the leaders of the communist underground.
CPP's chief information officer Marco Valbuena confirmed the AFP's killing of the Tiamzons and other guerillas in Samar in August 2022.
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Information gathered by the Central Committee showed that the Tiamzons suffered "severe beating" from soldiers, with their lifeless bodies supposedly dumped on a motorboat before being detonated with explosives.
"Their allegations of capture and torture are part of their 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 of CPP-NPA were escaping from ongoing military operations," said AFP spokesperson Col. Medel Aguilar on Friday.
"The AFP maintains that the operation succeeded, with the CPP-NPA-NDF's confirmation of their casualties," he added.
According to Aguilar, they have long suspected the death of Benito (CPP's chairperson at the time) and Wilma (secretary general) during an "armed encounter with government troops" on Aug. 22, 2022 in the seas of Catbalogan City, Samar. The military claimed that they did not have enough evidence to confirm it then.
The death of Benito and Wilma, according to them, is a testament to the success of government operations against "fugitives of the law." While the government claimed that an encounter took place, the CPP said the Tiamzons were actually unarmed during their capture.
"The alleged death of the Tiamzon couple and their Chairman Emeritus Jose Maria Sison in December 2022 only reveals the vacuum in the organizational and ideological leadership of the Communist Party," Aguilar said.
"The leadership vacuum, therefore, leaves the underground movement without a sense of strategic and operational directions and the reason for its existence," he added.
The CPP leads the 54-year armed struggle being waged by the New People's Army (NPA) in their attempt to overthrow the Philippine government, an entity which they claim is plagued by foreign imperialism, bureaucrat capitalism and feudalism.
In 2018, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed the proscription case seeking to declare the CPP-NPA as a terrorist group under the now-repealed Human Security Act of 2007. However, a Manila court dismissed DOJ's plea to declare CPP-NPA as terrorists in September 2022.
'Tiamzon killing violates international law'
The negotiating panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) likewise condemned the murder of the Tiamzons and their comrades, calling the AFP's treatment and alleged torture as "inhuman" and "barbaric."
Benito was a member of the NDFP Peace Panel and key political consultant of the NDFP Reciprocal Working Group (RWG) on Polical and Constitutional Reforms while Wilma was a consultant of the NDFP RWG on End of Hostilities and Disposition of Forces.
"Being protected persons under the GRP-NDFP Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) as well as the GRP-NDFP Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), in particular, and of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, in general, they should have been accorded all their rights and not murdered in cold blood by remorse-deficit GRP State terrorists," said Julieta de Lima, interim chairperson of the NDFP negotiating panel.
"Ka Benny and Ka Wilma are incontestably two of the most beloved, selfless and brightest leaders of the struggle. They, like Joma, Fidel, Randall Echanis, Randy Malayao, Pedro Codaste and countless others, have steadfastly dedicated their whole lives, energies, wisdom and talent to achieve a truly just and lasting peace for the people," she added.
Under JASIG, NDFP consultants involved in peace talks with the government are protected from attacks. However, it could be remembered that former President Rodrigo Duterte ended the peace talks with the Reds.
CARHRIHL, on the under hand, is an agreement between the government and the NDFP — an umbrella organization of revolutionary groups headed by the CPP — which highlights the upholding of human rights amidst armed conflict.