Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 20) — The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) on Thursday confirmed the deaths of two of its high-ranking leaders, Benito Tiamzon and Wilma Austria-Tiamzon, saying they were captured and killed by the military, contrary to earlier reports they may have died in a boat explosion.
In a statement, the CPP claimed the Tiamzons were among the 10 people brutally tortured and killed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) after their capture in Samar province in August 2022.
Benito, 71, was the chairman of the CPP executive committee, while Wilma, 70, was the party’s secretary general, the CPP said.
According to the group, the two were travelling in separate vehicles with eight other members of the CPP central headquarters’ guerilla force when they were taken captive.
It said all of them were unarmed.
“According to the information gathered by the (CPP) Central Committee, the Tiamzons suffered severe beating in the hands of their captors,\” the party said.
\”Internal reports cited witnesses who saw how the faces and bodies of the victims were smashed, apparently beaten with hard objects,” it added.
In August last year, the military reported that a boat exploded in waters off Catbalogan, Samar following an alleged gunfight between soldiers and the group of passengers, which may have included the Tiamzons.
Authorities said the passengers fired at the soldiers after being told that a plain view inspection of the boat would be conducted. They called off search operations shortly without finding the bodies of the Tiamzon couple.
READ: Army calls off search operations involving Samar boat blast without Tiamzon couple sighting
However, the CPP said the reported 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.\” According to the group, the Philippine troops involved in the supposed armed encounter were “trained and commanded by the US military.”
The communist party claimed that the 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.
“The CPP demands justice for the Tiamzons and the Catbalogan 10, and calls for their indictment in all relevant courts,” its statement read.
Meanwhile, Col. Jorry Baclor of the AFP public affairs office said they will get updates from the Philippine National Police regarding the DNA tests on the remains of those killed in the August 2022 Catbalogan “ clash.”
The Tiamzons, who were tagged by the Anti-Terrorism Council as \”terrorists,\” were considered fugitives.
‘Concocted’
Retired Major General Eduardo de Leon, who commanded the 8th Infantry Division in its operation involving unnamed “high-ranking” rebels in Samar waters, maintained that it was not clear if the Tiamzons were among the casualties.
“Paano nila nasabi na doon sa operation na yun ay yung mag-asawang Tiamzon ang namatay? Hindi ko alam kung kasama ba sila sa operation na yun dahil ako mismo, bilang commander at that time, hindi ko makumpirma kung kasama ang mag-asawang Tiamzon doon sa naka-engkwentro ng tropa sa dagat sa Samar,” De Leon told CNN Philippines’ News Night.
[Translation: How can they say the Tiamzon couple died in that operation? I do not know if they were included in that operation because I myself, as the commander at that time, could not confirm if the Tiamzons were there in the encounter with troops in the waters of Samar.]
De Leon reiterated that the operation was based on a “very reliable” tip about a group of “VIP leaders” attempting to escape through Samar’s seas while bringing along explosives.
The former Storm Trooper Division commander also stressed that the operation happened at sea and not on land as the CPP said, where the Tiamzons were reportedly captured and tortured to death.
“As usual, katulad ng kanilang nakagawian [as they did in the past], they want to glamorize the deaths of their comrades by concocting stories, dramatization,” De Leon said.
The National Security Council welcomed the confirmation of the Tiamzon couple’s deaths but maintained that it stands by the official reports of the AFP.
“As is their practice, the terrorists’ propaganda machinery has concocted and fabricated an elaborate story which even implicates the United States in their deaths in order to squeeze whatever propaganda value they can muster from their deaths,” National Security Adviser Eduardo Año said.
A Quezon City court sentenced the Tiamzon couple to up to 40 years imprisonment in November 2020 for the kidnapping of four Army lieutenants in 1988. In August 2016, the couple walked free after being allowed to post bail to attend peace negotiations in Oslo, Norway as consultants of the National Democratic Front.
