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Pahayagan ng Partido Komunista ng PilipinasPinapatnubayan ng Marxismo-Leninismo-MaoismoANG

English EditionSpecial Issue

October 9, 2011www.philippinerevolution.net

The leadership and entire membership of theCommunist Party of the Philippines (CPP), allRed fighters and commanders of the New

People's Army (NPA) and all revolutionary forcessalute Gregorio Ka Roger Rosal. Ka Roger passedaway on June 22, 2011 at the age of 64 after suf-fering a heart attack in a guerrilla front in Luzon.

For more than a decade as the Party's spokes-person, and prior to this, as spokesperson of theNew People's Army in Southern Tagalog (Melito

Glor Command), Ka Roger was the face and voiceof the revolutionary movement of the Filipinopeople. He symbolized the struggle of ordinaryfolkthe peasant masses, workers, the urbanpoor, employees and small professionalswhohad lofty aspirations of liberation from the rulingsystem that oppressed and exploited them.

As the spokesperson of the Communist Partyof the Philippines, he was the bearer of goodnews about the revolution. His voice fired up thecourage of both Red fighters and the strugglingmasses. The oppressed and the downtroddenthirsting for justice saw him as the conduit forairing their grievances.

Like the majority of Filipinos, Ka Roger grewup oppressed and impoverished in the country-side. He was born on April 19, 1947 in BarangayTalaibon, Ibaan, Batangas. Goring was the thirdof six brothers and sisters: Nicetas, Bernardo,Felecidad, Emilia and Remedios, now deceased.Their father Pablo Rosal and their mother Crispi-

na Crusat were both tenants serving a small land-lord whose fields were mainly planted to sugar-cane. His father boiled and stirred sugarcanejuice to make muscovado while his mother tend-ed to the fire. His family belonged to the middlestratum of the middle peasantry and supportedcalls for revolutionary change.

At a young age, Ka Roger was witness to pov-erty under an oppressive and exploitative system.

A Red saluteto Gregorio Ka Roger Rosal1947-2011

Central CommitteeCommunist Party of the Philippines

He workedhard even asa child in or-der to help hisfamily. From gradeschool to his secondyear in high school,he was for eight years aservant at their landlord'shousehold. He became an avid radio listener andread comic books as a pastime. Poverty forcedhim to stop his schooling for several years. Tocontinue his formal education, he peddled mos-quito nets and other goods that he bought oncredit from loan sharks. He traveled far and wideto different provinces. Wherever he went, it wasthe same face of poverty and oppression that hesaw.

He was able to enter college at the Golden

Gate Colleges in Batangas City in 1971 only atthe age of 24. It was a time of ferment for theyouth and students in Manila and other cities.

As he went around selling his wares, Ka Rogeroccasionally encountered rallies and listened tothe speakers. He began joining street protestsand seriously studied history and current socialconditions. Ka Roger became a member of the Ka-bataang Gabay ng Bayan, a Batangueo activist

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Ang Bayan is published fortnightly by the

Central Committee of the Communist Party

of the Philippines

Ang Bayan is published in Pilipino,

Bisaya, Iloko, Hiligaynon, Waray at

English editions.

It is available for downloading at

the Philippine Revolution Web Central

located at:

www.philippinerevolution.org.

Ang Bayan welcomes contributions

in the form of articles and news.

Readers are likewise enjoined to sendin their comments and suggestions for

the betterment of our publication. You

can reach us by email at:

angbayan@yahoo.com

Special Issue October 9, 2011

ANG

2 ANG BAYAN October 9, 2011

group. He later joined the Ka-bataang Makabayan. Throughhis study of society and integra-tion with the masses, he wasable to deepen his grasp of theroots of the poverty and oppres-sion suffered by the people.

Gradually, he steeled his deter-mination to become partof the historic move-ment that wouldchange the face ofsociety and open anew chapter in thepeople's lives.

When martial law wasimposed in 1972, KaRoger decided to

continue his revolu-tionary involvement. He becamepart of a team that was taskedto organize workers at the Bat-angas Sugar Central in Balayan,Batangas. In July 1973, he wascaptured by the enemy and de-tained at a military camp in Ku-omintang, Batangas City. Hewas later transferred to Camp

Vicente Lim in Canlubang, Ca-lamba, Laguna. Determined tocontinue working for the revolu-tion, he bolted prison alongwith nine other leading Partycadres in the region in Novem-ber 1973 in what became knownas The Great Escape.

After their escape from pri-

son, Ka Roger and his othercomrades took the path ofarmed revolution in the coun-tryside. He became part of theguerrilla front established in theLaguna-Quezon border along theSierra Madre mountainsthe

so-called Larangan ng Ka-gitingan or Front of Her-

oism. UnderKa Lorena

Barros' leader-ship, Ka Roger andother comradeswere sent to Mind-oro in 1974 to un-dertake social inves-

tigation and

prepare theisland for revolutionary expan-sion.

By 1975-76, Ka Roger be-came part of the first organizingteam in the Quezon-Bicol Zonethat led the advance of people'swar in Camarines Norte. Heeventually led the guerrilla frontcommittee established in the

area.In succeeding years, Ka Ro-ger became part of the historyof revolutionary expansion andadvance in the whole of South-ern Luzon, especially in theSouthern Tagalog region. In1980-81, the CPP Southern Lu-zon Commission issued a deci-sion forming the Southern Taga-log Regional Committee encom-

passing the provinces of Lagu-na, Batangas, Cavite and Rizal.Ka Roger was appointed to theregional committee as deputysecretary for education. Whenthe South Quezon guerrilla frontwas later placed under the juris-diction of the Southern TagalogRegional Committee, Ka Rogerplayed a major role in expansionwork in South Quezon and theBondoc Peninsula. After a fewyears, he became secretary ofthe Laguna-North Quezon-East-ern Rizal guerrilla front.

Under his leadership, armedstruggle and mass struggles ad-vanced in these areas. The Que-zon-Bicol Zone, South Quezon

and the Bondoc Peninsulaplayed crucial roles in expand-ing and consolidating the revo-lution in other parts of the Bicolregion and Southern Tagalog.Mass struggle and mass actionslaunched in these areas played

major roles in invigorating pro-test actions nationwide at thestart of the 1980s. In 1985, KaRoger was appointed as thefourth member of the SouthernTagalog Party Committee, elect-ed member of the Regional Ex-ecutive Committee and the Re-gional Secretariat a year later.

It was also at this time thatKa Roger met Ka Soly (Rosema-

rie Dumanais) who would laterbecome his wife. Ka Soly wasthen a young Red fighter. Theyhad two daughters who theyloved dearly and whose carethey entrusted to their relativesand friends. Even if their daugh-ters largely grew up away fromthem, Ka Roger and Ka Soly con-sistently saw to their welfare

and security.In 1989, AFP Southern LuzonCommand chief Gen. AlejandroGalido ordered fascist agents toabduct Ka Roger and Ka Soly'selder daughter Andrea from hergrandmother's house in Ragay,Camarines Sur. The AFP hadwanted to pressure Ka Roger tosurrender. Instead of succumb-ing to such pressure, Ka Roger

bravely exposed this heinouscrime to the media. The militarywas forced to release Andrea inthe face of the ensuing publicoutcry.

Ka Roger was witness to themajor strides taken by the revo-lutionary movement in SouthernTagalog. Nonetheless, he alsowitnessed one of the darkest ep-isodes in its history. In 1988,the region launched OperationMissing Link, an anti-deeppenetration agent campaignthat led to violations of demo-cratic rights. Although he hadno direct role in the detention,torture and killing of a numberof the victims, Ka Roger was

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3ANG BAYAN October 9, 2011

among those criticized and met-ed disciplinary action becauseof his accountability as one ofthe region's leading cadres andhis failure to take a standagainst the hysteria. He criti-cized himself for this with all

humility.When he was later assigned

to Laguna where OPML wasmainly conducted, he constantlyreminded the Red fighters tohumbly apologize to the rela-tives of the victims. The woundseventually healed and revolu-tionary mass struggles advancedin the guerrilla front.

Whatever he experienced in

his personal and political life,Ka Roger never despaired. Hefulfilled his duties as best as hecould. Beyond this, he madeoutstanding contributions inthe field of propaganda.

As a leader of the Party, heknew full well the importance ofpropaganda work in advancingpeople's struggles. Ka Roger pi-

oneered active propaganda workon radio and other mass media.In 1986, he first became knownas Ka Roger when he oversawthe release of prisoners of warin Quezon. In 1987, he servedas the spokesperson of the Na-tional Democratic Front (NDF) inSouthern Tagalog in peace ne-gotiations with the Governmentof the Philippines. In the next

several years, as spokespersonof the Melito Glor Command, KaRoger tirelessly engaged themass media to explain the CPPand NPA's views on various is-sues. He likewise oversaw thepublication ofKalatas, SouthernTagalog's revolutionary massnewspaper, and broadcasts ofRadyo Pakikibaka, the region'srevolutionary radio station.

Ka Roger was appointed asParty spokesperson in late 1993.Among his first duties was toadvance the Second Great Recti-fication Movement in the fieldof propaganda. He went all outin engaging in political battlesthe counterrevolutionary rene-

gades who resisted the rectifica-tion movement and malignedthe Party.

Ka Roger was appointed tothe National Propaganda Com-mission in 2001 and served asits deputy secretary. Besides

serving as the CPPs spokesper-son, he also helped oversee theregular publication of AngBayan, as well as work in thePhilippine Revolution Web Cen-tral and Sine Proletaryo, theCPPs video outfit.

For more than a decade,he served as Party spokes-person and headed the CPPInformation Bureau. From

VHF radios to modern cell-phones, he used all methodsof connecting with themass media to transmitnationwide news fromthe guerrillafronts. Ka Rog-er's voice and hisstraightforwardexplanations of

complex issueswere eagerly awaited daily byRed fighters and ordinary folkthroughout the country.

His simple style of present-ing the Party's stand was ex-tremely effective in helpingpeople deepen their under-standing of the issues and rais-ing their political conscious-ness. He always exposed the lies

spewed by the reactionaries, es-pecially the fascist spokesper-sons of the Armed Forces of thePhilippines (AFP) who endlesslyconcocted one prevaricationafter another. Thus, he wasdeeply hated by the reactiona-ries.

He invited reporters, broad-casters and writers from the me-dia to the guerrilla zones sothat they could see for them-selves the reality of the revolu-tionary movement and how thiswas being advanced by the Fili-pino people. Inside the guerrillazones, they came to know KaRoger as a simple man. They lis-tened to him as intently as he

listened to them convey theirproblems and grievances. KaRoger gained their respect, ifnot their admiration. The abilityand patience, the sharpness andintelligence, the patriotism andlove of country demonstrated by

Ka Roger further raised the pres-tige of the Party and the revolu-tionary movement.

As the CPP's spokesperson,Ka Roger was indefatigable inbringing news of the Philippine

revolution. He would hikefor days, cross riversand seas and go onlong road trips to getto wherever he was

needed. He granted al-most all requests for

interviews, anyday and at anyhour. Becauseof this, hegained manyfriends inthe media.Ka Roger

once sangLumang Simbahan in a dueton the air with the famous sing-er and broadcaster Tiya DelyMagpayo.

As Party spokesperson, KaRoger led several public activi-ties, including a celebration ofthe Party's founding anniversaryin Laguna in 1993 attended bythousands of people who gath-

ered under the CPP banner. Heoversaw the release of severalprisoners of war in Southern Ta-galog and Bicol. Despite intenseAFP operations, he was able toconduct press conferences inguerrilla fronts in Laguna, Al-bay, Quezon, Mountain Provinceand other areas.

With their extreme hatred forKa Roger, the military kept onslapping him with varioustrumped-up charges. He was de-monized and portrayed as acriminal. A `5 million bountywas offered for his capture andmillions of pesos were spent onfascist military operations to killor capture him.

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The AFP launched a numberof military campaigns to captureKa Roger in Laguna (1998),North Quezon (2000-2001),South Quezon (2002), Albay(2003), Masbate (2004), Moun-tain Province (2005) and again

in South Quezon in 2005-2006.Their intelligence operationswere relentless. Fascist opera-tives continually surveilled hisdaughters, siblings and otherrelatives and friends. The CPPInformation Bureau securityunit figured in a number of gun-battles. But because of thedepth of mass support, Ka Rog-er was able to overcome all the

enemy operations against him.Ka Roger paid no mind to fa-

tigue and the dangers attendantto the fulfillment of his duties.He would spend late nightswriting, studying and presidingover meetings. He would rise atdawn and immediately resumeworking. Tireless work soontook a toll his health and result-

ed in a number of major illness-es. In 1995, he almost died oftyphoid fever contracted after along and gruelling journey to aguerrilla zone. He suffered a re-lapse when he decided to imme-diately resume his revolutionarytasks despite his doctors advisefor him to take a month-longbreak.

In 1997, he suffered his first

stroke. But he quickly recoveredand was able to return fullswing to his revolutionary work.He suffered his second stroke in2000 and had to go on leave fora few months. But as he did af-ter his first attack, he strove toreturn to his revolutionary workin the countryside.

He suffered another strokeon May 1, 2006. This thirdstroke caused more damage tohis body. Despite his physicalincapacities, he was deter-mined to continue being ofservice to the revolutionarymovement. He persevered inovercoming his disabilities. Butthe severity of the damage

caused by this stroke led to thegradual deterioration of hiscondition until it became im-possible for him to resume hisprevious tasks.

From 2006 to 2011, Ka Rogerwas cared for by a team of com-

rades who ensured his security,medical needs and quality of life.Although he could no longer as-sume his usual responsibilities,he kept in close touch with theInformation Bureau and was con-sulted from time to time on itswork. Despite his handicaps, KaRoger kept himself well-informedabout advances in Party work,especially in the bureau. He con-

tinued to participate in collect-ive discussions, education work,planning and criticism and self-criticism sessions. He happilyengaged in discussions withcomrades who never tired of lis-tening to his stories about hisactivist days, his experiences inthe countryside, his daughters,wife and mother. During light

moments, he would grant com-rades' requests for him to playhis harmonica.

His daughters were able tovisit him on several occasionsand stay for weeks to months onend to help care for and deepentheir bonds with him. Ka Rogerwas happy to see his daughtersgrow up serving the people. Hewas also pleased with the fact

that although he and his wifedivorced in 2003, they remainedfriends and good parents totheir daughters. Although theywere often away from him, hisdaughters wrote to him often tokeep in touch and ask his adviceon various life concerns.

Even with his disabilities, KaRoger still woke up at dawn tolisten to the news. At times, hewas able to review statementsissued by the Party. He wasdeeply concerned upon hearingabout about media killings andabout the deaths of several re-porters in the MaguindanaoMassacre in November 2009. OnNew Year's day of 2011, he per-

sonally reviewed and approvedhis message to the Filipino peo-ple, calling on them to intensifytheir revolutionary struggles inthe face of the absence ofchange under Benigno AquinoIII's new reactionary regime.

Ka Roger spurned the offersof medical assistance from theAFP. He was aware that thesewere traps and saw the hypocri-sy behind them, as the militarynever withdrew the bounty onhis head and relentlessly pur-sued operations for his capture.

On April 19, 2009, comradesgathered for Ka Roger's 62ndbirthday. The CPP took the occa-

sion to pay tribute to him andremember his contributions tothe Philippine revolution. Theysang Awit ng Kainginero whichKa Roger composed in the 1980sin Southern Tagalog as a tributeto ordinary peasants. They all sa-luted him for the life he dedicat-ed to serving the people, theParty and the revolution.

Until he breathed his last, KaRoger devoted every moment oflife to the hungry and deprivedand their revolutionary strugglefor social justice and nationalliberation.

The entire membership ofthe Communist Party of thePhilippines, Red fighters of theNew People's Army and the Fili-pino people are one with his

family and friends in mourninghis death. With clenched fistsraised and rifles held in salute,they hail Ka Roger, an oustand-ing communist, courageous Redfighter, militant defender of thepeople, respected comrade andgood friend.

Ka Roger leaves behind alegacy of triumphs and memo-ries that are permanently etch-ed in the revolutionary annalsof the Filipino people. Hisname, which now joins that ofother heroes of the Philippinerevolution will forever inspirethe Filipino people in theirstruggle for national and socialliberation. ~