AFP calls alleged torture, killing of CPP leaders Benito, Wilma Tiamzon by military ‘fictitious’

© AFP/Ted Aljibe CPP-NPA top leaders Benito Tiamzon and his wife Wilma raise their clenched fists as they arrive for their bail hearing at the Manila RTC on Thursday, August 11, 2016. The Tiamzons are seeking their temporary release, as consultants of the CPP’s peace negotiating panel, to attend the second round of talks between the government and CPP-NPA-NDF leaders in Oslo, Norway this month. President Rodrigo Duterte has revived the stalled 1986 peace talks, a step towards ending one of Asia’s longest insurgencies that has killed thousands. AFP/Ted Aljibe

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Friday denied the report of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) that rebel leaders Benito and Wilma Tiamzon were allegedly tortured and killed by the military.

“Who is Marco Valbuena? He is a fictitious person telling fictitious stories to deceive our people,” AFP spokesperson Colonel Medel Aguilar said in a message to reporters.

“That’s how I describe ‘its’ (I cannot use he or she in referring to a ‘digital person’) press release and we are happy that our people today are well aware of the truth to believe its poisonous tongue,” he added.

In a separate statement, Aguila said the CPP’s allegations are “propaganda” and “attempt to deceive” Filipinos.

“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 CPP-NPA were escaping from ongoing military operations,” he added.

According to Aguilar, the AFP did not have the evidence to confirm the death of the Tiamzon couple during the operation.

On Thursday, CPP spokesperson Marco Valbuena confirmed the deaths of its leaders Benito and Wilma and eight others in a military operation in Catbalogan City, Samar on August 21, 2022.

He said the couple was unarmed when arrested in Catbalogan City, were tortured, and then killed.

“The already lifeless 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,” he said.

“Only eight bodies were subsequently retrieved by the military,” he added.

The AFP on August 22, 2022, reported the explosion of a motorized boat during an encounter with government troops off Catbalogan City.

Joint Task Force Storm Commander Major General Edgardo De Leon said visual estimates using night vision goggles showed that there were no more than 10 people onboard.

Aguilar said CPP’s declaration on the deaths of the Tiamzon couple showed “the weakness of the underground organization being leaderless at the national level.”

In December 2022, CPP founding chairman Jose Maria “Joma” Sison, who has been in self-exile in the Netherlands since 1987, passed away.

On April 17, 2023, alleged CPP leader Eric Jun Casilao was intercepted by Malaysian authorities at the Langkawi Immigration check-in counter.

“The challenge of keeping the organization intact after Sison’s death is a debilitating ailment that a leaderless organization could hardly deal with,” Aguilar said.—Joviland Rita/AOL/RSJ, GMA Integrated News

This article AFP calls alleged torture, killing of CPP leaders Benito, Wilma Tiamzon by military ‘fictitious’ was originally published in GMA News Online.