Two top leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) and eight others were allegedly tortured after their capture and later killed by their captors in Catbalogan City in Samar, last year.
In a statement, the CPP confirmed the death of couple Benito and Wilma Tiamzon who was reported by the military to have been killed in an operation off the waters of Catbalogan City in August last year.
Based on the military report, the group of the Tiamzon couple boarded a motorized banca which was the subject of the operation. During the brief clash, the boat allegedly exploded and sank with those people on board.
The military did not categorically confirm that the Tiamzons are on board the boat but said it had intelligence reports indicating that the two were among those who died.
But in a statement, the CPP said the Tiamzon couple, along with eight other rebels, were captured on Aug. 21 last year.
“They were subjected to severed beatings and other forms of torture before they were subsequently murdered,” the statement read.
“In the early morning hours of August 22, 2022, their lifeless bodies were dumped with explosives on a motorboat which was towed to the middle of the sea, before detonated somewhere between Catbalogan and Taranganan island, in order to erase all traces of evidence of their monstrous crime,” it added.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is yet to respond to the allegation.
The CPP statement served as a confirmation of the death of the Tiamzon couple, regarded as the remaining respected CPP-NPA leaders who are supposed to replace CPP founder Joma Sison.
The military earlier said that there is a demoralization in the remaining CPP-NPA forces due to a vacuum of leadership after the death of Sison.
The CPP statement said it has instructed all its fighters to honor the Tiamzon couple during the 50th founding anniversary of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines through a 21-gun salute.