Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 22) – A lawyers’ group and human rights alliance have called for an independent inquiry into the deaths of Communist Party of the Philippines’ (CPP) leaders Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, who were allegedly tortured and killed by the military.
In separate statements on Friday, the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) and human rights group Karapatan said the manner of their deaths violated international humanitarian law.
The CPP on Thursday confirmed the deaths of the Tiamzons but refuted the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) statement that the couple may have died in a boat explosion in Samar province in August last year.
The group’s report said the couple and 10 other members have suffered severe beating in the hands of their captors, citing witnesses who saw their smashed faces and bodies.
READ: CPP confirms deaths of Tiamzon couple, says they were killed by AFP
Dubbed as “barbarous,” the NUPL said the killings have exposed the injustice of the current counterterrorism framework in the country, which blurs the distinction between armed conflict and terrorism.
The manner in which they were killed all point to the commission of war crimes by the military, the group added.
Meanwhile, Karapatan cited that under IHL, it is prohibited to harm civilians that are unarmed combatants or those who are no longer able to engage in combat, such as the wounded or sick.
Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay said the \”nanlaban\” line was also invoked in numerous killings of CPP personalities, in the same way as it was used by the authorities to justify the drug war killings.
“There is a seeming desire to sweep everything under the rug by tagging the casualties as communist terrorists,” Palabay added.
The group said the killing of the \”Catbalogan 10\” also violated Republic Act 9851 or the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide and Other Crimes Against Humanity.
‘A win for gov’t’
Upon confirmation that the Tiamzons were high-ranking officials of the CPP, AFP spokesperson Col. Medel Aguilar on Friday said their deaths was a “success of government operations against the fugitives of the law.”
The AFP denied allegations of capture and torture as claimed by the CPP.
\”Their allegations of capture and torture are part of their propaganda and an attempt to deceive the Filipino people,\” he said. \”What happened in the August 2022 operation was a legitimate encounter acting on information that VIPs of the CPP-NPA were escaping from ongoing military operations.\”
Benito and Wilma Tiamzon were pre-martial law activists and veterans of the anti-dictatorship struggle.
They were arrested in Cebu in March 2014 and were released to join the peace negotiations with the Philippine government in 2016-2017.
