Benito and Wilma Tiamzon were the party’s president and general secretary. The Philippine military claims they were killed in an armed confrontation, but party sources say they were tortured and killed. Between 1969 and 2008 the confrontation between Marxist rebels and government forces cost the lives of more than 43,000 people.
Manila () – Sources from the Communist Party of the Philippines (PCF) confirmed today the death of Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, respectively president and secretary general of the party, after the Philippine Armed Forces broke the news, stating that it occurred during an armed confrontation in August 2022.
The leadership of the Armed Forces expressed their satisfaction, referring to the events as a victory or a historic event, part of the long and bloody confrontation between the military and the Marxist-inspired rebellion that has marked the modern history of the country. Acknowledging the disappearance of the Tiamzons, the party instead accused the Philippine military of torture and summary murder of the couple and violation of international law. The spokesman for the Central Committee of the Party stated that both had been captured, along with other fighters, during a military operation on the island of Samar, severely beaten and, after being killed, loaded onto a boat that was allegedly blown up.
“The accusations of capture and torture are part of communist propaganda and an attempt to deceive Filipinos. What happened in the August 2022 operation was a legitimate action based on information indicating that the leadership of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army (NEP/NPA) were trying to escape ongoing military operations,” he reiterated. the spokesman for the Armed Forces.
The PCF and the forces grouped around it currently have no leadership, except for the Central Committee, because the party’s historic leader, José María Sison, died in December last year in the Netherlands, where he was in exile. . This situation also makes the government’s dialogue with the communist rebels difficult, officially interrupted during the Duterte presidency, prior to the current one of Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
In 2018, the Department of Justice had called for the outlawing of the Communist Party and the NPA under the National Security Law. The request was rejected by a Manila court before that legislation was repealed.
Last year groups of the political right presented a new instance to order the dissolution of the Communist Party, its armed wing and the coalition that brings together the declaredly revolutionary organizations, such as the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, allegedly responsible for “organized conspiracy to overthrow the Philippine government.
The New People’s Army, which has existed for 54 years, is probably the world’s longest-running Communist-inspired (non-Maoist) armed rebellion. It is estimated that the confrontation between rebels and government forces has cost more than 43,000 deaths between 1969 and 2008. In reality, the confrontation never stopped, but became a low-intensity conflict that continued to guarantee the NEP/NPA control of several areas of the archipelago, despite the fact that the group has been weakening and reducing numerically. On the other hand, the activities of the Communist Party have served as a pretext for the security forces to undertake repressive initiatives, often indiscriminate or illegal, against groups or individuals critical of the government.
