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On journalists and objectivity

Today is the 91st birth anniversary of Antonio Zumel II, a pioneer of unionism among media workers. A former national president of the National Press Club, he was proclaimed a hero of the Philippines in 2016 at his name’s inclusion at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani.

Acknowledged by his peers as an impeccable writer, including former House of Representatives Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Zumel worked as reporter at The Philippine Herald and editor at the Manila Bulletin. He went underground on the night Ferdinand Marcos Sr. declared martial law on September 22, 1972. He went on to edit the underground newsletter Ang Bayan of the Communist Party of the Philippines, Liberation and its news service Balita ng Malayang Pilipino of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and regional newsletter Dangadang.

After Marcos was deposed in 1986, Zumel served as member of the NDFP Negotiating Panel in its peace negotiations with the Corazon Aquino government. In 1990, he was elected chairperson of the NDFP while seeking political asylum in The Netherlands. He died of kidney failure and diabetes in Europe in 2001.

Ex-GRP negotiator advises resumption of peace talks with NDFP

A former Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) peace negotiator advised the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration to resume peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) to help solve many of the government’s problems at once.

In an online interview with journalist Christian Esguerra, veteran GRP peace negotiator Hernani Braganza said a good outcome in the talks would possibly result in a lasting ceasefire with the NDFP.

“This is an unsolicited advice: they resume the peace talks with the NDFP. Because, the first thing that may happen if things turn out well, there will be lasting ceasefire,” Braganza said in Filipino.

Braganza’s advice came after Esguerra asked him about Marcos’ signing of the New Agrarian Emancipation Act last July 7 relieving 610,054 agrarian reform beneficiaries of amortization fees.

Aside from being a formal and “backchannel” government peace negotiator under three successive administrations, Braganza also served as Department of Agrarian Reform secretary under the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo government.

Branganza said the loan pardon program was actually a NDFP-GRP agreement in 2017 under a more comprehensive free land distribution concord.

“It is in one of our documents, free land distribution. Of course, when we say free, it will be the responsibility of the government for our farmers. It is the same as debt condonation. This was part of the peace talks,” he said.

Braganza said they duly submitted the document to Malacañan Palace and expressed regret that the previous Rodrigo Duterte government did not continue with the negotiations.

“If Presidente Duterte pushed through with the talks, this could have been part of it. It could have helped pacify Filipinos who take up arms,” he said.

Joma’s jest

Braganza said it is up to the Marcos Jr. government to take another look at the peace process if it wants to solve many problems at the same time.

He said it is obvious that poverty, lack of jobs and livelihood as well as opportunities for economic development pushes many Filipinos to join the armed struggle against social injustices.

The veteran peace negotiator added that if the government wishes to address social problems, “[it] might as well put in in a document that could end the armed conflict in a much shorter period.”

“[This,] rather than wait for them to lay down arms. If you can solve this by negotiating, that’s it. That’s the entire idea of it,” he said.

Braganza recalled a jest by the late NDFP chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison who told the government negotiators: “You don’t have to talk to us. The government only needs to do its job.”

“Most of all, Mr. Joma Sison, when he was still alive, signed that he will go home to the Philippines if the free land distribution agreement was signed by the GRP,” he said.

From Marcos to Marcos

In response to Esguerra’s question if the current political atmosphere is conducive to the resumption of the peace talks with the NDFP, Braganza said it all depends on a sitting president’s political will.

“Well, first of all, how many million votes did the president get? Thirty-one million. It is bigger than the previous president, so it is a huge political capital,” he said.

Second, the Marcos Jr. government enjoys control over the Senate and the House of Representatives, he cited. “How can you go wrong?” he asked.

Braganza, a student activist during Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s reign, added that it would one of the better legacies of the current Marcos administration to end the armed conflict with the NDFP.

“[B]ecause majority of the problem of insurgency in the Philippines started with the implementation of martial law (by Marcos Sr.).  So, if it started then, because they have the same surnames, wouldn’t it be better if this one ends it?” he asked.

Braganza said it would not be impossible, saying peace tables with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade and the Cordillera Peoples’ Liberation Army have successfully concluded under previous Manila governments.

“So it could be a good legacy for this administration to end what most of what started during the time of the father. It would be a good closure,” he said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Reds to try killers of NDFP peace consultant Posadas

The New People’s Army (NPA) in Negros Island announced the killers of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Rogelio Posadas will be tried by the “Revolutionary People’s Court” in the island.

NPA-Negros’ Apolinario Gatmaitan Command spokesperson Maoche Legislador in a statement Saturday, June 10, said cases related to Posadas’ killing by the military have been filed in its own tribunal.

Legislador said the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine National Police (PNP) and National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTFELCAC) are the respondents in the case.

“[T]here is no one else capable of cruel acts against revolutionary forces and the people but the mercenary and barbaric (AFP), (PNP) and (NTFELCAC) under the command of (President Ferdinand) Marcos Jr.,” Legislador said.

The Visayas Command (VisCom) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) announced last April 23 that Posadas died in a firefight with soldiers of the 62nd Infantry Battalion in Barangay Santol, Binalbagan, Negros Occidental last April 20.

READ: Missing NDFP peace consultant killed by AFP

Posadas, however, was announced missing as early as April 19 by the NDFP in Negros, along with companion Kyngrace Marturillas and motorcycle drivers Denald Mailen and Renel delos Santos.

Legislador said bystanders who witnessed the incident claimed a white van waylaid two motorcycles, afterwhich armed men wearing bonnets forced the drivers and passengers into the van.

He added Posadas was assassinated by the military in yet another fake encounter and that Marturillas and the drivers remain to be victims of enforced disappearances.

What’s a ‘People’s Court?’

Unlike Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) municipal and regional trial courts that are headed by a single judge, People’s Courts are usually composed of several members who try and decide on the cases as a tribunal similar to GRP’s Court of Appeals, Sandiganbayan and the Supreme Court.

Respondents, whether present or in absentia, are assigned defenders as in regular courts.

Understandably, most trials are held clandestinely but CPP, NPA, NDFP supporters as well as civilians are allowed as observers.

In earlier interviews with Kodao, NDFP representatives explained that anyone, including civilians, may file complaints with the CPP and the NPA.

Cases that warrant the formation of a People’s Court often try serious cases, such as cattle rustling, land grabbing, rape, murder and “counter-revolutionary activities” that lead to the capture or death of CPP, NPA and NDFP members, the representatives explained.

Penalties on guilty verdicts range from the offender’s banishment from a certain place to death, such as in the case of former NPA leader Romulo Kintanar who was executed in November 2003 while having lunch at a Quezon City restaurant by a NPA team.

The CPP said People’s Courts are part of its governance of territories it has established in its more than five decades of armed struggle. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Gibo’s anti-peace talks stance no surprise to the Left

Newly-appointed national defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro reiterated his position against the peace negotiations with the revolutionary Left who in turn said they are not surprised at all.

Immediately after his re-appointment to the post, Teodoro said he had always been against the peace process with the Left, something he added is also the position of the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration’s security sector.

“My personal position is ‘no’. That has always been my position ever since. And I think that is the position of the security cluster as of this time,” he told reporters last Thursday, June 8.

Appointed by Marcos Jr. as defense secretary for the second time last May 5, Teodoro first occupied the post from 2007 to 2009 under the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo presidency.

Instead of peace negotiations, Teodoro said armed members of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) should instead return to the fold of law.

“We can talk about their issues in the proper forum—the Congress—and they should participate in the legitimate political process. The CPP is legal because Republic Act 1700 (law outlawing the CPP) has been repealed long ago,” Teodoro said in a mix of English and Filipino.

No surprise

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Negotiating Panel was quick to rebuke the returning defense chief, saying they are not surprised by Teodoro’s position against the peace talks.

“After all, Teodoro comes from the same ilk of military warmongers who served Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and supported convicted war criminal Jovito Palparan,” NDFP peace panel chairperson Julie de Lima said Friday, June 9.

“Teodoro was one of the main implementors of Oplan Bantay Laya which is one of the bloodiest counterrevolutionary campaigns under the US-Arroyo regime,” de Lima added.

The NDFP said there have been documented human rights abuses under Teodoro and Macapagal-Arroyo, including aerial bombings in Mindanao and various cases of enforced disappearances as part of Oplan Bantay-Laya.

“We reiterate the NDFP’s policy of openness to peace negotiations. But at the same time, we see no signs of the current administration’s willingness to create the necessary conditions for peace talks to continue,” added de Lima.

De Lima said that while the revolutionary movement is always ready to talk peace with the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines), “they will persist in advancing the people’s war to defend the Filipino people against more brutal fascist attacks and US military intervention which [they] expect to intensify with the newly appointed DND chief.”

‘Calling a spade a spade’

The CPP for its part called Teodoro a “United States (US) factotum (servant)” who does not want to pursue peace because his real bosses want wars to continue to consume surplus US military hardware.

 The CPP further alleged that Teodoro, corrupt officials in the Marcos Jr. government and general of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) “keep their share of the fat contracts” under such programs as the so-called modernization of the military.

“Thus, it comes as no surprise that the recycled defense secretary declared that he has no plans of pursuing the NDFP-GRP peace negotiations. He is only interested in armed suppression and pacification of the revolutionary forces who represent the people’s profound aspirations for genuine social change,” CPP chief information officer Marco Valbuena said.

Valbuena also dismissed Teodoro’s demand for the CPP and the New People’s Army (NPA) to stop their armed struggle as “grossly ironic” given the defense chief’s personal history.

The CPP spokesperson recalled Teodoro chaired controversial companies Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI) and Indophil Resources Corporation (formerly known as Glencore International) since 2015. Indophils owns 37.5% of SMI.

In September 2022, the local government of Tampakan, South Cotabato revoked SMI’s business permit for alleged fraud and misrepresentation, declaring itself to be a mineral exploration manufacturer but found to be operating as a general engineering contractor.

“So, do we expect him to have any interest in listening to the grievances of peasants and minority people who are being displaced in their hundreds of thousands by the expansion of mining companies? No. Can the people expect him to have any interest in addressing the socioeconomic and political roots of the current civil war in the country? No,” Valbuena said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Kodao’s Villanueva wins Lagerwey communication excellence award on peace

Kodao Productions reporter and editor Raymund B. Villanueva is among this year’s recipient of the 3rd Lagerwey Awards for Communication Excellence, cited for his continuing coverage of the peace process between the Manila government and the revolutionary Left.

The Communication Foundation for Asia (CFA) in a special citation bestowed its communication excellence award on peace to Villanueva for his continuing coverage of the peace process between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

The 3rd Lagerwey Awards ceremony was held last Friday, May 5, at the CFA compound in Sta. Mesa, Manila.

“Our awardee continues to strive, to spotlight individuals and initiatives that seek harmonious conditions and to lead constructive public dialogues on issues about justice and equity,” the CFA said.

In his speech, Villanueva asked faith-based institutions such as the CFA, the academe, mass media and other communication initiatives to write more about peace to create a constituency among the people who would demand and work for peace in the Philippines.

“[The peace negotiations] should be talking about human rights, national industrialization, rural development, environmental protection, and the rights of the poor,” Villanueva said.

Villanueva was nominated for the award by Iglesia Filipina Indipendiente Chaplaincy for Europe Bishop Antonio N. Ablon.

A three-decade veteran journalist, Villanueva said peace and social justice are the most important issues for journalists that impact the people’s lives “in the most profound of ways.”

Villanueva authored two books on peace, “Quest for Peace” (Pantas and Kodao, 2020) and “Waylaid Peace” (Pantas and Kodao, 2021), collections of his news reports and essays on the GRP-NDFP peace process.

He is the national chairperson of Altermidya, a national network of independent and community media outfits and a former deputy secretary general of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.

Villanueva was also the recipient of other journalism and broadcasting awards, including Gawad Agong, Titus Brandsma Award, and Gandingan Awards.

The list of finalists of the 3rd Lagerway Awards that were each declared winners in different categories.

Media and faith

The awards is named after Fr. Cornelio Lagerwey, a Dutch priest and a Missionary of the Sacred Heart who spent years in parishes across the Philippines after his arrival from Indonesia in 1954.

Fr. Lagerwey first published the Philippine Catholic Digest before founding the Social Communications Center (SCC) with Filipino journalist Genaro Ong in 1965 to produce “socially relevant publications and radio and TV programs.”

Fr. Lagerwey and other SCC top executives were arrested in 1972 when Ferdinand Marcos Sr. declared martial law. SCC’s license to publish was also revoked.

SSC’s name was changed to the CFA in 1975 and continued its work. Lagerwey died in 1995.

The awarding ceremony for 3rd Lagerwey Awards last Friday was the first to be held with the actual presence of organizers and awardees.

The award was established in 2020. #

Missing NDFP peace consultant killed by AFP

The Visayas Command (VisCom) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has announced the death of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant and alleged top New People’s Army (NPA) leader in Central Visayas Rogelio Posadas.

Announced to be missing since April 19 by the NDFP in Negros, the AFP last Saturday said Posadas was killed “after a series of encounters in the boundaries of Isabela and Balbagan” in Negros Occidental Province last April 20.

VisCom alleged Posadas was Negros, Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor regional committee secretary of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

NDF-Negros and the NPA’s South Negros Command however said Posadas was first arrested and subsequently summarily executed by his captors in the manner that befell Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, Juanito Magbanua, Ericson Acosta, Jorge Madlos, Menandro Villanueva, Antonio Cabantan and other  NDFP peace consultants in recent years.

Bayani Obrero, NDFP – Negros spokesperson said, “We believe Posadas and the other three were intercepted by state agents along the road. They are missing since April 19, around 6PM. They never reached their destination.”

The NPA’s Mt. Cansermon Command denied two encounters took place in Sitio Marikudo, Brgy. Camang-camang and Sitio Cabite, Brgy. Binalbagan, Negros Occidental on April 20, 2023.

The NPA said it strongly denounces the military’s claim, saying Posadas was in fact unlawfully apprehended, tortured and killed despite being defenseless.

In his January 9, 2015 arrest in Negros Oriental province, Posadas was identified by former NDFP Negotiating Panel chairperson Luis Jalandoni as a holder of NDFP Document of Identification Number ND978313 under the assumed name Angel Jose.

Posadas has also been issued a corresponding Letter of Acknowledgment signed by then GRP Negotiating Panel Chairperson Silvestre H. Bello III and was covered by the safety and immunity guarantees under the JASIG, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees between the NDFP and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines.

Posadas was freed on March 7 of the same year after posting bail.

Still missing

The NDFP said Posadas was travelling with a “Ka (Comrade) Mikmik” and two motorcycle drivers hired to transport the two to their intended destination.

In a press conference in Negros Island last Sunday, the two motorcycle drivers were identified by their families as 21-year-old Renren delos Santos and 18-year-old Renald Mialen.

“Ka Mikmik” was also identified as 28-year old Lyngrace Martullinas.

In the press conference, delos Santos’ father said that witnesses had observed a white van obstructing two motorcycles, after which masked gunmen forced the riders into the van.

The announcement of Posadas’ death by the 303rd Infantry Brigade of Philippine Army did not mention other casualties and arrests. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

More groups call for justice for the Tiamzons

More groups condemned the reported deaths of top Communist Party of the Philippines leaders Benito and Wilma Tiamzon and the alleged manner in which they were killed by government soldiers.

Peasant groups Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) and Anakpawis Party said the brutal slay of the couple prove the government’s disinterest in solving the root causes of the armed conflict in the country.

Indigenous peoples’ organizations Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (Katribu), Sandugo – Movement of Moro and Indigenous Peoples for Self-Determination (Sandugo), and BAI Indigenous Women’s Network (Bai) in a joint statement said there is no justification for the manner of their deaths as well as the apparent cover-up that followed.

UMA said if only the government put as much effort into solving peasant landlessness and widespread hunger as they did in the cover-up, they could have easily ended the civil war the Tiamzons led.

 “But they’d rather spend time and resources committing such disturbing war crimes instead.” UMA spokesperson John Milton Lozande said.

Acting UMA chairperson and former Anakpawis Party Representative Ariel Casilao said,“Killing CPP leaders doesn’t make Marcos a strong leader. What it does is reveal how weak he is at addressing the problems that have made common Filipinos willing to take up arms.”

 “The government can end this war with genuine social reforms if it wanted to. Question is, does it want to?” Casilao added.

Casilao said they recognize that the armed revolution waged by the likes of the Tiamzons is aligned with the demands of the toiling masses, foremost of which is “seizing control of land from imperialists, compradors, and the landlords they worked with, and handing it over to the peasantry.”

The indigenous peoples’ groups meanwhile recalled when the Tiamzons took time to visit and consult with the Lakbayan ng mga Pambansang Minorya and Lumad bakwit at the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman shortly after their second release from prison in 2016 to participate in the peace negotiations.

“They listened to us and advocated for the concerns and aspirations of national minorities to the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER). They sincerely sat at the negotiating table with the Duterte administration to work for peace and push for genuine development,” the groups said in their statement.

For us national minorities, the Tiamzons and the organizations they represent, CPP-NPA-NDF, were never our enemy. It was not them (who) bombed our communities nor imposed destructive projects in our ancestral lands,” they said.

“They did not kill our leaders and chieftains who protect our lands and rights. They did not imprison or torture us for asserting our right to self-determination. The state and its Armed Forces are the ones that bring terror to our lands and lives,” the groups added.

Katribu, Sandugo and BAI said they call for the Tiamzons and their eight companions killed with them.

“They were revolutionaries, not terrorists. They did not deserve to be tortured and then mercilessly assassinated. If the worst criminals deserve humane treatment, all the more to well-meaning people like them pushing for peace, freedom, and development,” they said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Lawyers condemn brutal deaths of Tiamzons; fraternity condoles with family

Human rights lawyers condemned the brutal deaths of their clients Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, calling it a “grave breach of international humanitarian law (IHL).”

In separate statements, the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) and the Public Interest Law Center (PILC) called for accountability for the deaths of Benito, Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) executive committee chairperson, and his wife Wilma, CPP central committee secretary general between August 21 and 22, 2023.

“The reported manner of killings, signs of torture on the unarmed victims’ bodies and the insidious cover-up involving the explosion and sinking of a ‘hostile boat’ in the waters of Catbalogan City…all point to the commission of war crimes by the military,” the NUPL said.

“These grave breaches of (IHL) expose the injustice of the current counterterrorism framework, which blurs the distinction between armed conflict and terrorism, enables the arbitrary terrorist designation of parties to the protracted armed struggle, and enfeebles the application of protective legal norms to hors de combat, prisoners of war, and protected persons,” the group said.

The PILC for its part said the loss of a client in a savage extrajudicial killing in the midst of unresolved injustices is far worse painful than the loss of a case in court.

“The news about the brutal killing of our clients Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, with eight companions, shows how the system has failed again,” the PILC said.

The law firm said the Tiamzons first became their clients upon their arrest in Cebu in March 2014, a difficult task since they were branded as “enemies the state” given their extensive knowledge of the nature and problems of Philippine society and deep involvement in the armed struggle to bring about structural change.

“Contrary to the vilification, they were both level-headed, patient, and soft spoken. They would often give us insightful analysis of the case. Our conversations with them as our clients taught us to be more meticulous and analytical in our work,” they said.

Peace warriors

The Tiamzons were released from jail by the previous Rodrigo Duterte administration to participate in formal peace negotiations in Europe between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

Formal talks lasted less than a year, between 2016 and 2017, but was enough for the Tiamzons to make their mark in the process, PILC said.

“[I]n the peace negotiations with the Philippine government, they provided significant contributions with the sincere aim of reflecting in the agreement the aspirations of the oppressed Filipino masses,” the law firm said.

The Tiamzons actively participated during the discussions on specific provisions of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER), the most substantive of the four peace talks agenda that includes respect for human rights and international humanitarian law, political and constitutional reforms (PCR), and cessation of hostilities and disposition of forces (CHDP) as laid down by the parties in their Joint Hague Declaration signed in September 1992.

Even while the drafting of a common draft of the CASER was still being finalized, Benito and Wilma had already started work on the next agenda of the peace negotiations, their lawyers said.

Benito, aside from being a member of the NDFP negotiating panel, was also the head of the reciprocal working group tasked to study the agenda on the PCR, while Wilma was the head of the reciprocal working group assigned to research and draft proposed provisions on the agenda of CHDP.

The peace negotiations could have been an opportunity for the Philippine government to end the armed conflict and achieve a just and lasting peace, PILC narrated.

Where are government’s obligations?

In an announcement Monday, the CPP reported the Tiamzons and eight others were caught in a military dragnet near Catbalogan on August 21 last year.

The revolutionary group added the Tiamzons were severely beaten and their bodies subsequently blown up off the coast of Samar province in what the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) described was a running firefight.

Former AFP officials involved in the said incident denied CPP’s allegations, pointing out that DNA tests being conucted abroad have yet to confirm if body parts recovered from the scene belonged to the Tiamzons.

The NUPL however still called on the Manila government to fulfill its obligation to respect and ensure respect for international humanitarian law in all circumstances as stated in the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Protocols, the domestic Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide and Other Crimes Against Humanity, and even the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) signed by both the GRP and the NDFP as a mutual agreement connected with the peace process between the parties.

“This non-derogable obligation includes the duty to recognize the equal applicability of international humanitarian law to both parties of an armed conflict and to hold the military to account for the inhumane treatment and deaths not only of the Tiamzon spouses but of many other casualties of its war crimes,” they said

Fraternity condoles

Meanwhile, Benito’s University of the Philippines (UP) Alpha Sigma Fraternity brothers expressed condolences for the death of their member they described as having lived their brotherhood’s principles.

Benito was a member of the fraternity’s 1969-D batch, indicating the year of his entry into the group.

Bilang isang miyembro ng aming kapatiran, naging malaki ang naging kontribusyon ni Brod Benito, at ang kanyang bunga ay naramdaman din sa labas ng aming organisasyon. Ang kanyang liderato at aktibismo, sa loob at labas ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas, ay nag-iwan ng hindi malilimutang marka sa aming kapatiran at sa lipunan na pinagsisilbihan namin. Ang kanyang dedikasyon at matatag na paninindigan para sa mga tao ay nagbigay inspirasyon sa aming lahat,” the group in its message said.

(As a member of our brotherhood, Benito’s contributions had been immense that we feel even outside of the organization. His leadership and activist, within and outside UP, leave an unforgettable mark on our fraternity and the society we serve. His dedication and unflinching principles inspire us all.)

“Bilang isang kapatiran, nangangako kami na patuloy na itataguyod ang aming pinakamataas na layunin na Alay sa Sambayanan na isinabuhay ni Brod Benito at Wilma Austria at patuloy na maglilingkod sa mga tao upang makagawa ng positibong pagbabago sa ating lipunan. Taos-puso naming ipinagmamalaki si Brod Benito bilang isang tunay na myembro ng UP Alpha Sigma Fraternity na hanggang sa dulo ng kanyang buhay ay ubos lakas na pinaglilingkuran ang sambayanan,” it added.

(As a brotherhood, we vow to pursue our loftiest ideal of serving the people that our brother Benito and Wilma lived by to bring about positive changes in society. We are wholeheartedly proud of Brother Benito as a genuine member of the UP Alpha sigma Fraternity who until the end of his life gave his all for the people.) # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

‘Happiness is in the revolution’

Reportedly captured, tortured and killed on August 21, 2022 with wife Wilma Austria and eight others:

“Happiness is in the revolution. I could not think of any other life. There is no other way. The revolution is not a burden, an obligation I perform with a heavy heart. It comes out naturally.”—BENITO TIAMZON, Communist Party of the Philippines Executive Committee Chairperson

NDFP Peace Panel ‘immensely outraged’ at Tiamzons’ brutal deaths

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Negotiating Panel said it is “immensely outraged” at the killing of its member Benito Tiamzon and peace consultant Wilma Austria Tiamzon it blames on the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Following the announcement Thursday by the Communist Party of the Philippines that the Tiamzons were arrested, tortured and killed in Catbalogan, Samar last August 21, NDFP Negotiating Panel interim chairperson Julieta de Lima said they are also in deep mourning for the Tiamzons and their eight companions.

“The reported manner of their questionable capture, inhuman treatment and barbaric torture, and the deceptive scheme to dispose of their and eight of their comrades’ mutilated bodies are despicable acts of evil persons from the GRP State’s terror machinery,” de Lima said.

According to the CPP, the Tiamzons and their companions were captured at a military checkpoint near Catbalogan and and suffered severe beating in the hands of their captors, citing witnesses who saw how the faces and bodies of the victims were smashed with hard objects.

Their dead bodies were then taken to a boat that was blown up off the coast of Samar province to make it appear that they were killed in a firefight with the military’s Joint Task Force Storm, the 8th Infantry Division and the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Trident in the early morning hours of August 22, 2022 off the coast of Catbalogan.

The CPP added that the “Catbalogan 10” suffered the same fate as other CPP and New People’s Army (NPA) leaders who were brutally killed after capture, such as in the case of NPA spokesperson Jorge Madlos (Ka Oris) in October 2021, NPA national commander Menandro Villanueva (Ka Bok) in January 2022, revolutionary leader Antonio Cabantan (Ka Manlimbasog) in December 2020, CPP Central Committee leader Julius Giron (Ka Nars) in March 2020 and a number of others.

“This deliberate pattern of either arbitrarily arresting or outrightly murdering activists and revolutionaries must immediately stop,” de Lima said.

Instead of meaningful resolution of the armed conflict, the killings and other damaging acts and statements by the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) make it more difficult to address the root causes of the armed conflict, she added.

AFP denies CPP report

In media interviews Thursday, retired 8th Infantry Division-Philippine Army commander Edgardo de Leon denied the CPP report that the Tiamzons were captured in a military checkpoint and were subsequently killed.

De Leon confirmed however that they implemented a dragnet in the area and purposefully engaged a number of alleged NPA fighters off the coast of Catbalogan where there is little chance of civilians being caught in the crossfire.

He also denied that their Joint Special Operations Task Force-Trident directly involved American troops.

 Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police said the results of Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) results from abroad to establish if body parts retrieved on the coast of Catbalogan were indeed those of the Tiamzons.

The CPP however said that the supposed offshore firefight was an elaborate way to hide the torture the Tiamzons suffered in the hands of the military.

“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,” CPP chief information officer Marco Valbuena said.  

The NDFP Negotiating Panel said the Tiamzons should not have suffered arrest, torture and murder as they were protected by several signed agreements and protocols.

“Being protected persons under the GRP-NDFP Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) as well as the GRP-NDFP Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), in particular, and of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, in general, they should have been accorded all their rights and not murdered in cold blood by remorse-deficit GRP State terrorists,” de Lima said.

Arrested for the second time in southern Cebu in 2014, the Tiamzons were released from jail in 2016 to enable their participation in formal peace negotiations between the GRP and the NDFP in Europe.

Benito was a member of the NDFP Peace Panel and a key political consultant of the NDFP Reciprocal Working Group (RWG) on Political and Constitutional Reforms (PCR). He was 71 years old.

Wilma a political consultant of the NDFP RWG on End of Hostilities and Disposition of Forces (EHDF). She was 70 years old.

Childhood sweethearts, the two were classmates at Rizal High School in Pasig where they graduated at the top of their class.

They both studied at the University of the Philippines where they separately joined the Samahan ng Demokratikong Kabataan but jointly went underground when the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. Imposed martial law in 1972.

They rose to become two of the CPP’s top leaders and was credited for leading the party in its Second Great Rectification Movement in the 1990s.

The CPP said Benito was chairperson of its executive committee while Wilma was secretary general of its central committee at the time of their deaths.

“Ka Benny and Ka Wilma are incontestably two of the most beloved, selfless and brightest leaders of the struggle. They, like Joma (Sison), Fidel (Agcaoili), Randall Echanis, Randy Malayao, Pedro Codaste and countless others, have steadfastly dedicated their whole lives, energies, wisdom and talent to achieve a truly  just and lasting peace for the people,” de Lima said.

“We honor their legacy by carrying on what they have passed on with even more vigor and resolve.  There is no other option,” de Lima added.

Meanwhile, the CPP’s Central Committee urged all NPA units nationwide to perform 21 gun salutes for the Tiamzons on April 24, the 50th founding anniversary of the NDFP. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)