Armed Forces factsheet chronicles Tiamzons rise to top of CPP-NPA

The arrest of Benito and Wilma Tiamzon would create a “leadership vacuum” in the 45-year-old Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (NPA), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff General Emmanuel Bautista had said in a press conference at Camp Crame on Monday. "I believe it does deliver a serious blow [to the NPA]. And it shows you also the competency of our security forces," President Benigno Simeon Aquino III, meanwhile said. But who exactly are the Tiamzons and how did they rise to the top leadership positions of the CPP-NPA? According to a fact sheet distributed by the AFP public information office to the media on Sunday, Benito Tiamzon, 63, is the current chairman of the CPP-NPA and the head of the group's central executive committee. Benito has been at the involved of almost all the major activities of the communist group since its founding chairman, Jose Maria “Joma” Sison went into exile in the Netherlands in 1987, the AFP said. Prior to assuming the highest post in the CPP-NPA, Benito had been secretary of the CPP National Commission for Mass Movement, command officer of the  CPP Regional Mobile Force Sorsogon, command officer of the CPP Southern Luzon Commission and secretary of the Eastern Visayas Regional Party Committee (EVRPC) in 1975. Benito was also believed to be among the leaders behind the massacre of 15 civilians in Inopacan, Leyte in 1985. Born on March 20, 1951 in Marikina City, Benito has a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of the Philippines-Diliman where he became a student activist and was staff member of the school publication, UP Collegian. Benito also played a key role in the establishment of labor unions in the '70s, the AFP said. Benito's spouse,Wilma Austria-Tiamzon, 62, is the current secretary general of the CPP-NPA. Prior to her current post, she also served as the finance officer and secretary of the CPP National Peasant Commission, secretary of the CPP National Education Department, member of the Regional Trade Union Bureau and member of CPP-NPA central executive committee. Born on December 21, 1952 in Pasig City, Wilma was also a graduate of UP Diliman and was also a staff member of the UP Collegian. On Oct. 4, 1989, she was apprehended by the military for murder cases but was able to escape from the detention center in Camp Crame on December 25 of that year. The CPP-NPA reportedly spent P2.5 million for her escape, according to the military. The couple reportedly have a daughter, the AFP said. Based on the military estimate, the CPP-NPA was responsible for the killing of about 30,000 individuals since it was founded in 1969. According to the AFP record, the CPP-NPA is now down to 4,347 guerrilla members from more than 26,000 in the late 1980s, with their operations mostly directed against small military and police units and some extortion activities in rural businesses. — Elizabeth Marcelo/DVM, GMA News