PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

Ka Roger's role in Operation Missing Link minimal--CPP
February 5, 2003

The Communist Party of the Philippines Central Committee (CPP-CC) today refuted allegations that CPP spokesperson Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal was directly responsible for the purge of suspected enemy spies in Southern Tagalog in the '80s.

In a three-page statement, the CPP-CC said that Rosal only had a "minor role" in the purge and for the most part, was not even in the area where the purges were conducted.

The CPP denied claims by Manuel Quiambao, one of the victims, that Rosal had a hand in torturing him. "Ka Roger had no direct participation in the execution or torture of any of the victims," said the CPP-CC.

The Southern Tagalog anti-infiltration campaign, dubbed "Operation Missing Link," or OPML, was conducted in 1988 and resulted in the arrest, detention and torture of 55 CPP cadres and members and NPA Red fighters, some of whom were executed. It came three years after the conduct of a similar campaign called Kampanyang Ahos in Mindanao.

The CPP has since condemned both OPML and Kampanyang Ahos as "grave errors" and declared that the violation of the victims' rights were "serious crimes against the Party and the revolution."

The CPP also said that it sought out the families of the victims "in order to conduct self-criticism, explain what occurred and the underlying context, ask for their forgiveness and understanding, give some form of compensatory damages and encourage their continued support for the revolution."

It has imposed heavy sanctions on those responsible, ranging from warnings to expulsion from the Party. It said that most of the perpetrators of the purge have "made rectifications," acknowledged their accountabilities and served the disciplinary actions meted on them.

Rosal, who received a "stern warning" for his minor role in the purges in Southern Tagalog, "continues to accept with humility, his responsibility to make rectifications and relate and explain the matter to comrades and the masses," said the CPP.

The CPP-CC identified Miel Laurenaria as "one of the main leaders" of the OPML. It said the Laurenaria was expelled from the CPP-CC and "stripped of the right to hold any leading position at any level". Laurenaria, however, did not truly acknowledge her errors and continues to insist that the OPML was correct, the CPP-CC said.

It said most of the victims of the OPML "accepted" the conclusions and "rectification measures" and have been restored to their former positions and levels of responsibility in the CPP.

Some of the victims, said the CPP, opted to leave the Party but continue to support the revolution.

The Party contrasted the attitude of "honest comrades" with that of Quiambao, who resumed his tasks within the movement but later opposed the CPP's rectification measures, became an "NGO bureaucrat" and was now "relentlessly vilifying and sowing intrigues against the revolutionary movement."

The CPP likewise lambasted other personalities responsible for the purges for issuing statements or writing articles shifting the blame to Rosal and the Party.

The CPP cited Nathan Quimpo who "masterminded Kampanyang Ahos," Ricardo Reyes who "personally approved Kampanyang Ahos," Arturo Tabara who "personally participated in the torture of those who were arrested in the Visayas," and Nilo dela Cruz who led the campaign to pursue suspected spies in Metro Manila and who, with the late Filemon "Popoy" Lagman, "virulently opposed the rectification measures taken by the Party's central leadership." ###

Reference:






Back to top