Aquino: arrest of Tiamzon couple won’t affect peace talks

Defiant Communist leaders Wilma and Benito Tiamzon INQUIRER PHOTO/KIMBERLY DELA CRUZ

MANILA, Philippines –The arrest of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) top officials Benito Tiamzon and his wife Wilma will not affect the peace talks, President Benigno Aquino III said Monday.

“Does it have an impact? I don’t think so. It really depends on their (CPP) willingness to go back to the bargaining table,” Aquino said during an ambush interview at Malacañang.

On the other hand, he said that the Tiamzon couple and five others will “deliver a serious blow” on the communist movement.

“And it shows you also the competency of our security forces,” he said.

The President confirmed that they were the high-profile fugitives he was referring to last week.

“You will be impressed with the caliber of those who will arrest him and the fugitive who will be captured,” he said on Wednesday, two weeks after the arrest of businessman Delfin Lee, one of the country’s five most wanted fugitives.

Aquino also said addressing “the root causes of the problem” is the key to solving armed conflict.

“That’s why we are focused on empowering our people especially in trying to move them out of poverty in the various interventions that we have been doing from education, to health, to livelihood, to housing, to disaster preparedness and so on and so forth,” he said.

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