THE military yesterday said government troops seized P23,545.35 cash from the group of communist leader Benito Tiamzon during his arrest last month in Cebu, and not P1.5 million as the leftist group Bayan is claiming.
Maj. Gen. John Bonafos, commander of the AFP Central Command, said was been returned to Nona Castillo and Rex Villaflor, who signed an inventory receipt.
Castillo and Villaflor were among the five arrested with Tiamzon, chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines, and his wife Wilma Austria, CPP secretary general.
Lawyers of Tiamzon and Austria, who are now detained at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame, said they would verify Bonafos’ claim about having returned the P23,545.35.
On Wednesday, Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. said the military should return the P1.5 million cash that he said was to be used to help victims of typhoon “Yolanda.” Reyes said the information about the P1.5 million was contained in a handwritten letter from Tiamzon and Austria.
Bonafos said: “What the Tiamzons are saying, that we have the P1.5 million in custody, is completely false. As a matter of fact, the recovered money, a total of P23,545.35, and other items were accounted properly, with witnesses,” he said.
Apart from the cash and other items, also turned over to Castillo and Villaflor were two vans, laptop computers, and other personal belongings, Bonafos said.
He said Tiamzon and Austria were living in an air-conditioned apartment which they were renting for P20,000 a month.
Bonafos said the claim of Bayan is meant to “discredit” the accomplishment of the military.
Lawyer Rachel Pastores of the People’s Interest Law Center said persons like Tiamzon and Austria, who she said are being persecuted by the government because of their political beliefs, could not afford to have a lavish lifestyle.
“Do they have properties similar to what Janet Napoles has amassed? Did we ever see them partying? They do not even own a house,” Pastores said.
“The house that they were renting was very simple… They were not living in a mansion,” she added.
The military described the house as enclosed by a fence about 10 feet high. The compound has three nipa huts or “bahay kubo.” A check showed the going rental rate in Metro Cebu is P6,000 for an ordinary house.
http://www.malaya.com.ph/business-news/news/tiamzon-austria-arrest-turns-war-words
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