Philippine rebel chiefs convicted of kidnapping

The couple were sentenced in absentia to 40 years in jail after a court found them guilty of abducting four soldiers near Manila in 1988

Two fugitive communist rebel leaders in the Philippines who had been involved in failed peace talks to end one of the world’s longest-running insurgencies were convicted of kidnapping yesterday, officials said.

Benito Tiamzon and his wife Wilma Tiamzon were freed on bail in 2016 to help out in negotiations in Norway to end the conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

But President Rodrigo Duterte shelved the talks in 2017, alleging the Maoist leaders were not interested in making peace.

The couple have been on the run ever since. Duterte later signed an order declaring the Communist Party of the Philippines and its 3,800-member armed wing the New People’s Army (NPA), which the Tiamzons both allegedly led, “terrorist organisations”.

The couple were sentenced in absentia to 40 years in jail after a court found them guilty of abducting four soldiers near Manila in 1988. They were held hostage for 75 days before being freed unharmed.

“The conviction of the Tiamzons is a victory for the many victims of atrocities of the (rebels) particularly orders to conduct murder, arson, extortion, ambushes, bombing and the like that they orchestrated,” military spokesman Major-General

Edgard Arevalo said. “The (military) will continue to hunt them down,” he added. Duterte’s spokesman, Harry Roque, said he had “no idea where they are”, while hailing the verdict “a triumph of the justice system”.

The peace talks failed following deadly rebel attacks against soldiers and police. The NPA is one of the deadliest armed groups in the Southeast Asian nation. It has been waging an insurgency for more than 50 years to overthrow what the rebels call a capitalist system that has created one of Asia’s biggest richpoor divides. Peace talks to end the conflict have been held on and off for three decades.