Tiamzon arrest an ‘organized racket’—NGO

TOP REDS Communist Party of the Philippines and New People’s Army chief Benito Tiamzon (left) and his wife, Wilma (right), shout slogans after an inquest conducted by the Department of Justice at Camp Crame. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines– Human rights group Karapatan slammed the government’s bounty that led to the arrest of Communist Party of the Philippines chairman Benito Tiamzon and his wife Wilma, and tagged it as a “one-time big-time organized racket.”

“Mukhang pinagkakakitaan pa ng gobyerno at militar ang iligal na pag-aresto at pagdukot ng mga peace consultants, mga aktibista at ordinaryong sibilyan,” said Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay in a statement on Wednesday.

(It seems like the government and the military are even making money out of the illegal arrest and abduction of peace consultants, activists, and ordinary civilians)

The Tiamzons were arrested on Saturday in Cebu along with five others in a law enforcement operation.

On Tuesday, the military said that there is an estimated P10 million bounty for the couple, as the reward for Benito alone was at P5.6 million.

In a press briefing on Wednesday, military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala clarified that there is a P20-million reward (or P10 million each) for the Tiamzon couple based on joint reward order by the Department of Interior and Local Government and the Department of National Defense as of November 2012.

“The Aquino government’s practice of criminalizing political acts to cover up the illegal arrests of peace consultants, activists and civilians is legitimized by the highly questionable joint memorandum 2012-14 of the [Departments] of National Defense and of Interior and Local Government,” said Palabay.

She said the bounty system was like a “secret hit list” to former President Gloria Arroyo’s order of battle, adding that it is only used to “legitimize” illegal cases of arrest, detention, and torture.

“The reward/bounty system is dangerous because it can be used to justify the victimization of any person so the military and police may get the reward money,” said Palabay, who also called for the abolition of the reward system.

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