By JONAS ALPASAN
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has confirmed the torture and killing of Benito Tiamzon and Wilma Austria, along with eight revolutionaries.
The group said the 10 were captured alive in Samar province on August 21, 2022 while were travelling on two separate vans along the national highway towards Catbalogan City. They were reportedly flagged down between 12:00 noon and 1:00 p.m.
In a report posted by Ang Bayan, the Tiamzons were severely tortured with witnesses reporting that they “saw how the faces and bodies of the victims were smashed, apparently beaten with hard objects.”
The CPP disputed earlier claims that the Tiamzons were killed while engaged in a firefight on August 22, 2022 off the coast of Catbalogan.
“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,” the report read.
Tiamzon was the chairperson of the CPP Executive Committee while Austria was the secretary general.
Both sat as members of the Negotiating Peace Panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines during the series of talks under former President Rodrigo Duterte. (RVO) 
