Tiamzons refuse to enter plea before QC court

MANILA, Philippines - Communist leaders Benito Tiamzon and Wilma Austria on Tuesday refused to enter any plea during their arraignment for kidnapping charges before the Quezon City court.

Consequently, Judge Madonna Echeverri of the QC Regional Trial Court branch 81 entered a not guilty plea for the two accused of kidnapping with serious illegal detention charges.

Court records showed that the charges against Tiamzon and Austria- the leaders of the New People's Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippine- stemmed from the alleged abduction of several soldiers in Candelaria and Mauban, Quezon province sometime June 1988.

The government troops were purportedly detained for 75 days, records said.

Tiamzon and Austria's legal counsels, lawyers Rachel Pastores and Edre Olalia of the National Union of People's Lawyers, objected to the court proceedings because they only got of the notice for the arraignment just yesterday.

The lawyers said they had no time to review and prepare for the court proceedings.
 
The court set the pre-trial of the case on May 19.