CHR probes Samar boat explosion

To confirm if Tiamzon couple among fatalities

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines — The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has started its investigation into a boat explosion in the waters off Catbalogan in Samar on Aug. 22 to determine if two officials of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) were among those killed.

The CHR-Eastern Visayas office is conducting the probe in response to the request of Benito Tiamzon’s sister Nenita to confirm if her brother and his wife Wilma, chairman and secretary general, respectively, of the CPP, were among the fatalities.

“The CHR executive director’s memo on Aug. 31 is to verify if the casualties of the recent sea blast in Catbalogan, Samar, including the Tiamzon couple Benito and Wilma, and to resolve unanswered questions,” CHR regional director Desiree Pontejos said.

“We will forward to the CHR central office all reports that we get from forensics authorities,” she said.

Pontejos did not set a deadline to finish the probe.

The boat exploded for still unknown reasons as soldiers engaged in a gunfight with its passengers, said to be communist rebels.

The military said it has no proof of the Tiamzon couple’s death, but noted that given the impact of the explosion, all the passengers died.

Fishermen recovered human remains and debris of a boat in the waters near the site of the explosion in the past several days.

The military said the remains of two women, five men and one, who has yet to be determined, have been recovered.

Probers took DNA samples from the human remains before burying them.