Philippine military spokesman Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala shows pictures of arrested communist leader suspects, Benito Tiamzon, chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines, and his wife Wilma Austria Tiamzon, after a press conference at Camp Aguinaldo, military headquarters in suburban Quezon city, north of Manila, Philippines Sunday, March 23, 2014. AP
MANILA, Philippines–The informant who led authorities to the arrest of the top leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army will receive a bounty of over P10 million, the military said Tuesday.
“Right now what I can tell is that we had an informant and because of the informant we were able to effect the warrant of arrest against them and eventually led their capture,” military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala told reporters at Camp Aguinaldo.
He said that a joint circular with the Philippine National Police states that there is a reward for arrested personalities of the Communist Party of the Philippines. The Tiamzons appeared on the joint order on the reward issued by the Secretary of the Interior and Local Government and the Secretary of the Department of National Defense.
On Saturday, the chairman of the CPP Benito Tiamzon and his wife Wilma were arrested along with five others by government forces in Cebu. They were brought to Manila the next day.
Zagala could not say immediately how much exactly the bounty would be, but as of his last check, Benito was worth P5.6 million. He said that the informant will receive “over P10 million.” He also could not immediately say if there were other informants.
He said the tips of the informant were “valuable” because it helped them locate the couple, which he described as a “challenge.”
He added it also helped them identify the couple, as the warrant of arrest should go with the identification “to be able to arrest the right person.”
Giving rewards to informants is important, according to Zagala, as they “take risks” on their behalf.
No firearms were planted
Zagala also said that the firearms that were confiscated during the arrest of the couple were not planted, contrary to what the Tiamzons claim that they only had three puppies and four cats on their vehicle and not firearms.
“We want to clarify that during the arrest they were arrested while they were in their vehicles. When they were arrested the search of their vehicles were done in their presence and there [are] pictures and video of them and these are now part of the evidence against them,” he said.
“It’s but natural that they will say that but we prefer that they say that in court rather than to media,” he added.
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