Dante A. Ang, Publisher
Manila Times
June 9, 2004

This article was featured in the Manila Times . The views contained herein are of the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CPP and the revolutionary forces.

This unassuming spokesman for the NPA likes to point out that he has the same birth date as former President Joseph Estrada, April 19, 1948. Only 5 feet and 1.5 inches tall. Gregorio Rosal, also known as Ka Roger, nevertheless has a towering presence. He commands respect.

His parents were farmers. His father died in September 1982 from a stroke. Save for her gout, his mother, at 90, is still strong. The family tilled a one-hectare, irrigated rice field. Third in a brood of six. Ka Roger finished high school at St. James Academy in Ibaan, Batangas, where he was born.

The family lived a simple life. But compared with the other farmers, they were better off. They shared the harvest from their rice field with the owner on a fifty-fifty basis. They raised pigs, chickens and other domestic animals to augment their income. Ka Roger considers his family "panggitnang magsasaka" (middle farmers).

He likes to read and listen to the radio. He is a fan of such radio greats as Tiya Dely Magpayo, late Rafael Yabut and Roger "Bomba" Arrienda.

He finished second-year Liberal Arts at Golden Gate Colleges in Batangas City. But even then he had very little interest in finishing college. He had other concerns. He was busy organizing the students. In between studying and organizing, he went into selling. He sold mosquito nets in Manila.

He would enroll just to be kept on the roster so he could go to school not so much to study as to organize the Kabataang Makabayan (KM).

Enrolled , he would immerse himself in the cause. He missed taking the examinations because he didn't pay the monthly tuition on purpose. As a result, he became a repeater several times over. But that was all part of the plan to prolong his stay in school so he could continue to organize the KM.

The matriculation money went instead to buy airtime in a radio station in Batangas City in 1971. he became a radio commentator, a block timer. The airtime cost was only P100 monthly. He must have honed his talent as NPA spokesman during his stint as a radio commentator. His program went on the air for half an hour, Monday through Friday. It fulfilled his dream to be on radio.

As early as then, it became apparent that Ka Roger was no ordinary student. He was destined for "bigger" things. He would become one of the most feared members of the NPA, high on the most wanted list of the AFP-PNP. He is, after all, the spokesman for the Left.

Fate may have played a cruel joke on him (or is it on us?): he once dreamed of becoming a soldier. He wanted to defend the government from the incessant attacks by Central Luzon activists whose cause he could not understand.

But he underwent a sea change. Listening to the radio while tending the family farm, he would follow with keen interest the dominant issues during the First-Quarter Storm in the seventies. Slowly the issues became clearer. He began to empathize with the student activists.

His admiration for the activists fighting the government grew by the day. Only his Catholic upbringing prevented him from joining the organization right away. He admitted that the government's propanda against the communists stuck in his mind while still a student.

He recalled the advice of his elders that it was all right for him to be an activist but that he should not join the Kabataang Makabayan, because it was a communist front.

But as fate would have it Ka Roger found himself talking to KM members and the Samahan ng Demokratikong Kabataan (Democratic Youth), who came to school one day to lend support to the teachers who were on strike. The KM and the young rebel easily bonded together.

In an instant Ka Roger went onstage and gave an extemporaneous speech in support of the teachers. From then on, the transformation from student to activist became evident.

Sucked into the system

Yet although he was already deeply involved with the activities of the KM, he still hesitated to join it formally. He was searching for answers, looking for the differences between what his forebears and the Catholic Church teaching--that of loving your neighbor--and what was being promoted by the activists--that of serving your country.

While vacillating, he did not realize that he was being sucked into the system. He was already doing regular organizational work for the KM. Only a formal alliance separated him from joining the Left. He was finally recruited to the organization in 1972 by Alfredo Tanyag, who was later killed in action.

His first job with the underground was as an urban organizer. For one year he helped organize trade unions. He was about to become a ranking member of the Southern Tagalog Trade Union Bureau were it not for his accidental detention.

Quite innocently and without hesitation, he went to see a police official in Camp Vicente Lim in Canlubang at the invitation of a barangay captain. He had no inkling that he would be detained despite the absence of any complaint against him. He forbade his father to enter into any kind of compromise with the government, much less borrow money for his release. He was so confident that he would be released because no case was pending against him. He was wrong. He was kept in prison for five months without charges.

Feeling restless, he thought of escaping. A break came when some NPA detainees planned their escape from Camp Vicente Lim. He wanted to join them. The NPA detainees at first did not want to bring him along. They figured that since he had no pending case, the police would have to free him.

They escaped by crawling through an enlarged hole that served as a small passage for garbage. For weeks, they toiled with everything they could lay their hands on: a piece of iron that they picked somewhere from the prison compound, utensils, anything to enlarge the hole.

Once outside the prison cell, they didn't know how to make good their escape. At one point, they thought they had already escaped only to find they were back where they started. They were running around in circles!

It was dark and they had no means of transportation. They did not now how to get out of Canlubang. It was almost daybreak when Ka Roger decided to take charge. He followed the railroad tracks until finally they reached San Cristobal in Canlubang. They broke into three groups when they reached the highway. It was daybreak.

Ka Roger's group went to Manila. Fortunately he had saved money while inside the camp where he was allowed to sell cigarettes to the guards. All along he was planning his escape.

From Manila he was deployed by the movement in Batangas, where he again engaged in organizing the barangays.

Soon after, he was promoted to a full-fledged NPA guerrilla. Bearing arms, he became a member of the armed propaganda unit that operated along the boundaries of Quezon and Bicol provinces.

For four years he organized the peasants. It was in Camarines Sur where he met his wife, also an active member of the movement. She does the equivalent work of a desk officer. The couple operate separately. She is assigned elsewhere.

They were married in 1980 somewhere in Bicol. For 30 days the newlyweds spent their honeymoon in Batangas traveling from one place to another, doing Party work, organizing the peasants. Their union bore two girls. The eldest, aged 23, is also a member of the NPA. Like her parents, she, too, is an organizer. Their youngest is still in high school.

One day soon, Ka Roger also hopes to see her join the organization. While recounting his experience with the authorities, he gave me the impression that he is prepared to sacrifice even his family for the cause.

He was soon promoted representative of the Front Committee. He helped organize guerrilla zones along the boundaries of Quezon, Laguna and Batangas.

Like other members of the NPA, Ka Roger had his share of armed encounters with the government soldiers. He recalls government forces penetrating the NPA perimeter camp somewhere in Camarines Norte while the rebels were meeting. Their defenses were breached. After a hail of gunfire, two of his close comrades fell.

He felt bad losing two friends but took it philosophically as part of the sacrifice for their cause.

The second armed encounter happened in Lubo, Batangas, while he had his companions were organizing the peasants. They were in the house of a woman who had three young children. Her husband was not around.

While talking to the woman. Ka Roger became suspicious. He sensed that the house was being surrounded. He peeped through the bamboo-mat wall and saw a platoon of Philippine Constabulary (now PNP) and Civilian Home Defense Forces (the precursor of Cafgu, the Citizens Armed Force Geographical Unit).

Surrounded, he thought it was the end of the road for him. He took pity on himself, on the prospect of dying at a young age.

But he was lucky. They managed to escape by punching a hole on the sidewall and jumping through it. Before escaping, he ordered his companion to jump ahead and wait for him. Instead, his companion left him. He caught up with his comrade later still panting and running scared.

He found it strange why the police and the CHDF did not fire at the house. The policemen and the CHDF men fired a few shots in the air instead of at the house.

Later on, Ka Roger found that the woman's husband had squealed on them. He turned out to be a police asset.

Ka Roger also noticed that the policemen were afraid to come near as he was making his escape. He suspected that they were afraid of his AK 47, which had quite a reputation as a killing machine. He fired one round in the air as he was making his escape. True enough, the authorities did not try to follow him, more out of fear of the AK-47 than of him.

He was already in the other barrio but he could still hear the bursts of gunfire: he knew they were more for show than for anything.

Desk officer

Contrary to people's perception Ka Roger seldom had armed encounters with the authorities. He was, and still is a desk officer. He is not a field officer, never was. His job was mainly as an organizer. Later on he became an administrative officer.

A day in his life consists in listening to the daily radio broadcasts as soon as he wakes up. He listens to the morning newscasts, calls the radio station to comment on the day's issues, and issues statements whenever necessary.

He follows up statements sent to the radio stations with personal calls to clarify issues. And if his battery still has power, he uses it for his laptop to write letters, and to read the communications and the occasional directives from the Central Committee. The rest of the day he spends reading, studying and attending to paperwork. Just like in an ordinary office.

As Party spokesman, Ka Roger's position is equivalent to that of a press secretary. He has a group of writers who help him prepare statements. Occasionally, he writes them himself. Statements are normally cleared with the Central Committee.

At times he takes the risk. He is so familiar with Party positions that occasionally he calls the radio stations to comment on the day's issues without prior clearance from the Central Committee. He has a good batting average, he said.

But sometimes his statements have been off the mark: "daplis" he calls them. Luckily, his mistakes were few and far between. They were only minor and easily corrected by a simple call to the station.

One such incident was the statement he issued in support of the Oakwood mutineers, which turned out to be inconsistent with the Party's position. In hindsight, although the Party supported the soldiers' cause, it disagreed with their method to bring down the government. The soldiers were unprepared for that, Ka Roger wryly commented.

Joining the movement means forgoing many of one's freedoms and putting personal interests and even emotions at the backseat. The people's welfare and interests come first.

For Ka Roger, he wouldn't have it any other way. His loyalty to the cause had been put to the test. He passed with flying colors. Once his youngest daughter, who was then in grade school, was taken by the military and kept in the camp for days for no apparent reason.

He realized that the military was waging a psywar campaign when it abducted his daughter. It was forcing him to surrender.

Like a father, his heart cried out for his daughter. But instead of buckling under pressure, he decided to engage the military head on, right in its own turf: propaganda.

Ka Roger went public. He told those who cared to listen what the military had done to his daughter. To put pressure on the military, he called some legislators. Soon enough, his daughter was released unharmed.

Ka Roger's views on contemporary issues reflect his long exposure to the communists' ideological imperatives. His views may not be balanced, but for the deprived and the impoverished and for the victims of injustice, they are. At the very least, compelling. #

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