The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) denied on Friday, April 21, that alleged communist leaders and couple Benito and Wilma Tiamzon were imprisoned and tortured before being killed by soldiers in Catbalogan City, Samar last year as the military leadership branded as “propaganda” the claims of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

(Wilma and Benito Tiamzon / File photo via MANILA BULLETIN)

Col. Medel Aguilar, AFP spokesperson, insisted that the military had long suspected the death of the Tiamzon couple in an armed encounter with government troops on Aug. 22, 2022 in the seas of Catbalogan City although they had “no evidence to prove it” since their bodies were apparently not recovered.

“The recent CPP-NPA-NDF [CPP – New People’s Army – National Democratic Front] declaration of the demise of the Tiamzon couple, if indeed true, was the success of government operations against the fugitives of the law, as they confirmed in their statement that these personalities have important positions in the CTG [communist-terrorist group] organization,” Aguilar said.

“Their allegations of capture and torture are part of their propaganda and an attempt to deceive the Filipino people,” he added.

Meanwhile, the National Security Council (NSC) welcomed the confirmation by the CPP-NPA-NDF of the death of the Tiamzon couple.

"The deaths of the Tiamzon is just the latest in the string of defeats that show the clear decimation of Communist terrorism in our country," National Security Adviser (NSA) Eduardo Ano said.

"The string of defeats on the part of the terrorists prove that the Philippine government is on the right track, and we shall sustain all anti-terrorism efforts," he added.

In a statement on Thursday, April 20, the CPP confirmed the death of the Tiamzon couple along with eight others but it condemned the alleged torture done by the military. 

The CPP identified Benito, 71, as the chairman of the CPP Executive Committee and Wilma, 70, as the CPP Secretary General when they died.

Citing information from its Central Committee, the CPP claimed that the Tiamzons “suffered severe beating” from their captors, adding that “internal reports cited witnesses who saw how the faces and bodies of the victims were smashed, apparently beaten with hard objects.”

The Philippine Army’s 8^th Infantry Division (8ID) reported last year that they were verifying reports that the Tiamzon couple were among those killed during an explosion of a motorbanca carrying armed individuals in Catbalogan City, Samar last year.

Accordingly, the 8ID received an intelligence report that around 10 armed individuals boarded a motorbanca loaded with boxes which were suspected to be explosives from the shoreline north of Calbayog City around 4:10 a.m. on Aug. 22, 2022 to escape the military’s relentless operations in the area.

A team of Special Forces equipped with night vision goggles were deployed to accost the suspicious individuals but a firefight erupted which resulted to the explosion of the boat.

At least six sets of human remains – three men, two women, and one of unidentified sex – were reportedly recovered by the military in the encounter site which were all subjected to DNA testing. 

The AFP did not give an update on the results of the test and it was only now, after eight months, that the CPP confirmed the death of the Tiamzon couple albeit with a different version of the story.

“The AFP maintains that the operation succeeded, with the CPP-NPA-NDF’s confirmation of their casualties,” Aguilar said.

‘Leadership vacuum’

For Aguilar, the death of the Tiamzon couple and CPP’s Chairman Emeritus Jose Maria "Joma" Sison in December 2022 proved that there was a “vacuum” in the organizational and ideological leadership of the CPP.

“The leadership vacuum, therefore, leaves the underground movement without a sense of strategic and operational directions and the reason for its existence,” the AFP spokesperson noted.

He then urged the remaining communist rebels to “abandon violence” and surrender to the government so they could turn their lives around.

At present, the AFP said that there were 22 remaining guerilla fronts in the country: two are still active or carrying out operations while 20 were already weakened due to the neutralization of their leaders. The remaining fronts have “a little over 2,000” remaining communist members.