(UPDATED) An alleged ranking official of the Ilocos Cordillera Regional Committee (ICRC) of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New Peoples Army (CPP-NPA) has surrendered to authorities, police and military officials said.
Annie Tauli, 70, chairperson of the ICRC and widow of deceased CPP-New People’s Army military commissioner Julius Giron, surrendered to authorities on June 10, 2020, in Kin-iway, Besao, Mountain Province.
The arrest was a joint effort of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police.
Tauli is also the president of the Batil-ang Peypeyen Clan in Besao, Mountain Province and the older sister of Vicky Tauli-Corpuz, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Her surrender was facilitated by Brigadier General Henry Duyaen, commander of the 503rd Brigade of the Philippine Army(P.A.), Police Regional Office Cordillera (PRO-Cor) Director R’win Pagkalinawan and retired general Ramon Yog-Yog.
National Security Adviser Secretary Hermogenes Esperon said Tauli provided abode and shelter to high-ranking officers of the CPP-NPA-NDF.
“Anne Tauli has provided abode to Julius Soriano Giron, chairman of the CPP-NPA and National Military and Finance Commission, providing shelter to an enemy of the state. We know that she is liable for having violated the laws of the land and now, she has seen it fit to be within the folds of the law, and to be able to clear her name, she came to us peacefully and we will help her clear her name. We welcome her and we are happy to do this in the presence of Regional Peace and Order Council Chairman Mayor Benjamin Magalong,” Esperon said.
Tauli is the older sister of Vicky Tauli-Corpuz, the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
“The general facilitated my safe arrival here after lockdown for three months because of the Covid-19 through the use of a helicopter because of too many protocols because we are from the Covid-free
province. I came to clear my name from the various charges that have been hounding me since I have been there as a law-abiding citizen in Besao for the last many years,” Tauli said.
Tauli graduated elementary from Easter School in Baguio City and was among the first batch of graduates from the Philippine Science High School in 1968.
She was a teacher in Brent School until 1980 and was the coordinator of the Cordillera Studies Program of the Cordillera Schools Group based in Easter School up to 1984.
Tauli has done independent research and has written several papers on Cordillera history and issues.
Most recently, she implemented the TUKLAS project on the documentation of the Batangan system of pine forest management.