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Advocates Philippines
AFP Denies Claims of Capture, Torture of Tiamzon Couple
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) have refuted the allegations that communist leaders Benito Tiamzon and Wilma Austria-Tiamzon were subjected to abduction and torture by the military before their deaths in 2022.
On Thursday, April 20, Marco L. Valbuena, the chief information officer of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) claimed that the Tiamzon couple, along with eight others, "were severely tortured and subsequently murdered by their military captors, on August 21, 2022".
Valbuena said that their remains were then dumped on a motorboat, which was later detonated in Samar in August 2022.
“The claimed 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. In truth, 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. Only eight bodies were subsequently retrieved by the military,” Valbuena and the CPP's statement read.
AFP spokesperson Col. Medel Aguilar said in a statement on Friday, April 22 that the CPP's accusations are part of the group's "propaganda".
"Their allegations of capture and torture are part of their propaganda and an attempt to deceive the Filipino people. 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," Aguilar said.
He also said that the AFP had long suspected the deaths of the Tiamzons couple during their armed encounter with government troops on August 22, 2022 in the seas of Catbalogan City, but they did not have the evidence to confirm it.
"The recent CPP-NPA-NDF's 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 organization," Aguilar said.
National Security Adviser Sec. Eduardo M. Año has also welcomed the confirmation of the death of the Tiamzon couple.
"We welcome the confirmation by the CPP-NPA-NDF of the death of top terrorist leaders Benito Tiamzon and Wilma Austria-Tiamzon last August 2022. Benito Tiamzon was the Chairman of the CPP Executive Committee and Wilma Tiamzon was the CPP’s Secretary General", Año said in a statement released on April 20.
Año stated that with the loss of CPP founder Jose Maria Sison and the Tiamzons, the Communist Terrorist Group is now headless with no clear national leadership.
He also condemned the "fabricated story" about the couple's death.
"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. They are now trapped in their own web of lies which deserves scant comment. Needless to say, there is no truth whatsoever in this clearly fabricated story and we stand by the official reports from the Armed Forces of the Philippines," Año said.
On Thursday, April 20, Marco L. Valbuena, the chief information officer of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) claimed that the Tiamzon couple, along with eight others, "were severely tortured and subsequently murdered by their military captors, on August 21, 2022".
Valbuena said that their remains were then dumped on a motorboat, which was later detonated in Samar in August 2022.
“The claimed 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. In truth, 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. Only eight bodies were subsequently retrieved by the military,” Valbuena and the CPP's statement read.
AFP spokesperson Col. Medel Aguilar said in a statement on Friday, April 22 that the CPP's accusations are part of the group's "propaganda".
"Their allegations of capture and torture are part of their propaganda and an attempt to deceive the Filipino people. 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," Aguilar said.
He also said that the AFP had long suspected the deaths of the Tiamzons couple during their armed encounter with government troops on August 22, 2022 in the seas of Catbalogan City, but they did not have the evidence to confirm it.
"The recent CPP-NPA-NDF's 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 organization," Aguilar said.
National Security Adviser Sec. Eduardo M. Año has also welcomed the confirmation of the death of the Tiamzon couple.
"We welcome the confirmation by the CPP-NPA-NDF of the death of top terrorist leaders Benito Tiamzon and Wilma Austria-Tiamzon last August 2022. Benito Tiamzon was the Chairman of the CPP Executive Committee and Wilma Tiamzon was the CPP’s Secretary General", Año said in a statement released on April 20.
Año stated that with the loss of CPP founder Jose Maria Sison and the Tiamzons, the Communist Terrorist Group is now headless with no clear national leadership.
He also condemned the "fabricated story" about the couple's death.
"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. They are now trapped in their own web of lies which deserves scant comment. Needless to say, there is no truth whatsoever in this clearly fabricated story and we stand by the official reports from the Armed Forces of the Philippines," Año said.
Apr 21, 2023
