Reds 'celebrate' release of political prisoners
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said on Thursday that its "revolutionary forces across the country celebrate the successive release" of political prisoners who would act as peace consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in the resumption of peace talks next week.
So far, 14 consultants have been temporarily released. The Reds said they were hoping that the rest of the 22 NDFP consultants would also be released so they could join the talks in Oslo, Norway set on August 22-27.
But aside from this, the CPP said it was urging the Duterte government to release all political prisoners nationwide, numbering around 550. Most of them are peasant and workers, according to the communists.
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"The release of all NDFP peace consultants will boost several-fold the confidence of the revolutionary forces in GRP President Duterte's determination to work with the NDFP in peace negotiations," the CPP said.
Tiamzon couple
Meanwhile, rights group Karapatan scored the Philippine National Police (PNP) for detaining couple Benito and Wilma Tiamzon at Camp Crame despite orders from four local courts to release them.
PNP spokesman Sr. Supt. Dionardo Carlos, however, said the police had yet to receive copies of all the release orders.
The Tiamzons had been arrested in 2014 for various charges including illegal possession of firearms, murder and kidnapping.
CNN Philippines' David Santos contributed to this report.
