Tiamzons’ inquest should be in Cebu

Lawyers of captured Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) leaders Benito and Wilma Tiamzon yesterday questioned the inquest proceedings held at  Camp Crame in Quezon City, saying it is “highly irregular”.

President Aquino said the arrest the  Tiamzons dealt a “serious blow” to the communist movement, but left the door open for the possible resumption of peace talks with the National Democratic Front (NDF).

Lawyer Rachel Pastores told reporters that they refused to recognize the inquest proceedings and questioned the procedures’ validity since the processing should happen in Cebu where the crime allegedly happened.

Pastores said the Tiamzons and five others asked the permission of Senior Supt. Roberto Fajardo, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-National Capital Region, to leave the venue of the inquest proceedings.

She reiterated their position that the arrest of her clients was disrespectful to the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (Jasig).

Fajardo, however, said the Department of Justice (DOJ) is allowed to hold inquest proceedings at a secure venue like Camp Crame as a safety precaution.

Police said the Tiamzons are also facing additional charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

Earlier reports, however, did not indicate the seizure of firearms and explosives during their arrest in Cebu.

The Tiamzons and their five companions were not allowed to see their lawyers in Cebu.

According to Ian Manticajon of the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), the military violated the rights of the detainees by depriving them of the right to  seek assistance from a competent legal counsel of their choice.

Manticajon and lawyer Rex Fernandez went to Camp Lapu-Lapu, headquarters of the AFP Central Command Saturday evening after they were informed that  the rebel leaders were taken there.

The NUPL’s help was sought by National Democratic Front chairman Luis Jalandoni to provide a counsel to the Tiamzon couple and their five companions.

The Tiamzons and their companions were flown to Manila on board a Philippine Air Force aircraft around 11 a.m. Sunday.

Pastores said the supplementary complaints are meant to justify the continued illegal detention of her clients.

While the Tiamzons were escorted back by the police to the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Benito shouted, “Tuloy ang laban (The fight goes on)!”

Protesters, meanwhile, trooped to Camp Crame Monday morning to call for the immediate release of the Tiamzons and five others who were arrested with them.

PEACE TALKS

President Aquino meanwhile said that the arrests do not have an impact on the peace process that has been going on-and-off.

But the president said the next move will not come from  Malacañang, but from the communist movement’s leaders which has waged an armed revolution for 45 years already.

“It really depends on their (NDF) willingness to go back to the bargaining table,” he told reporters, noting that it was the NDF panel that “walked out” of the negotiations more than a year ago.

But the NDF is saying otherwise. They insist that Benito Tiamzon, believed to be the chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines and Wilma Austria-Tiamzon who is said to be the party’s secretary-general and head of finance, are covered by the JASIG because they “peace consultants”.

In a statement, it accused the Philippine government of unilaterally withdrawing from the peace process in April 2013. It added that the unilateral withdrawal of the government does not necessarily mean that all signed agreements in the course of the negotiations, like the JASIG and the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CAHRIHL) have ceased to be binding.

The Tiamzons were arrested with five other communist rebels in Barangay Zaragosa, Aloguinsan town outside of Cebu City last Saturday. The group allegedly yielded four pistols, two hand grenades and ammunition, plus four laptops, 16 cellular phones, and 20 flash drives.

In a statement, the CPP said Tiamzon and his wife were “performing tasks and duties assigned to them” both by the party and the NDF at the time they were arrested.

“Up to recently, both were busy conducting firsthand investigation into the conditions of the working-class people in the Visayas region whose lives were devastated by supertyphoon ‘Yolanda’ (Haiyan) and who continue to suffer from the Aquino regime’s anti-people, crony-controlled, corrupt and grossly inept response to the calamity,” it said.

Mr. Aquino did not appear fazed by the possibility of more attacks by the New People’s Army, the CPP’s armed wing, in response to the arrest of the top communist leaders.

“The attacks have not ceased, so what are they saying? For them, it’s business as usual, I guess,” he said.

Asked if the capture of the Tiamzons would bring the government closer to stamping out the communist insurgency, the President cited the need to “deal with the root causes of the problem.”

RELATED STORY:

Top Red leader captured in Cebu

Captured CCP under surveillance in Cebu for two months