From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Mar 22): 6 top communist officials captured in Cebu
Wilma Tiamzon, a member of the central committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army, was arrested by government security forces in Carcar, Cebu, along with six other top communist officials Saturday afternoon.
A highly placed military source told the Inquirer the authorities were ascertaining if one of the three men arrested with Tiamzon was her husband, Benito Tiamzon, chairman of the CPP-NPA.
“We are still establishing if it is indeed Benito Tiamzon,” the source said, requesting anonymity for lack of authority to speak to the media.
If indeed it was Benito Tiamzon who fell into government hands, “it would be a big blow to them (communist rebels) because he is the chair of the CPP-NPA,” the official said.
According to the source, the three men and three women arrested with Tiamzon were also members of the CPP central committee.
The source said the group was in two vehicles when they were arrested around 3:10 p.m. by a team of soldiers and police.
They did not resist arrest, the source said.
The source declined to say where the group was being held, citing security reasons.
The source said finding Tiamzon and possibly her husband too had been “a long operation.”
Saturday was the 117th anniversary of the Philippine Army, which has been at the forefront of the war against the communist insurgency since the end of World War II.
The Army anniversary celebrations was held in the morning at the Army Headquarters at Fort Bonifacio, with all high-ranking security officials in attendance, led by Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Emmanuel Bautista.
Army chief Maj. Gen. Hernando Iriberri, in his speech, referred to the significant gains of the Army in their internal security operations.
Little did anyone know, or it could be that top security officials were simply tight-lipped, that the government would catch the two biggest personalities of the CPP-NPA.
Benito and Wilma Tiamzon have long been considered more influential than Jose Ma. Sison, the founder of the Maoist-inspired CPP and National Democratic Front, which took over the communist insurgency following the decline of the Marxist-oriented Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas, whose fighting arm was the Hukbong Mapaglaya Bayan or the Huks.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/588110/high-ranking-communist-leader-captured-in-cebu
If the report about the capture of Wilma and Benito Tiamzon turns out to be true, this would represent a major coup for Philippine security forces and a huge blow to the underground insurgent organization.
ReplyDeleteI would expect CPP legal and human rights fronts like the National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL) and Karaptan to rail against what they are sure to call the "illegal" arrest and detention of the Tiamzons. They will probably assert that the Tiamzons are part of the NDF peace panel and are covered by the GRP-NDF Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and will demand their immediate release.