PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

CPP ASSAILS FAKE SURRENDER OF 150 NPA REGULARS IN RIZAL
November 17, 2002

The CPP today assailed the Macapagal-Arroyo regime for staging the surrender of "150 NPA regulars" in Rizal on Friday. In a statement, CPP spokesperson Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal said that the AFP and PNP had merely cooked up the fake surrender scheme to provide Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo with another photo opportunity and feed her "voracious appetite for publicity."

Rosal disclosed that one of the so-called surrenderees, a certain "Ka Lorena" purported by the AFP as a high-ranking NPA official in Rizal was Rosalinda Cocoy, 23, a former NPA guerrilla from Barangay Puray, Montalban, Rizal. Rosal said Puray, who was with the NPA for only two montnhs, was arrested by the AFP on August 22 after an encounter between the NPA and the AFP in her barrio. She had not reported back to the NPA after being granted a medical leave to seek treatment for a heart ailment and had eventually married, borne a child and settled back in their barrio. Rosal added that Puray has since been been turned into a sex slave by various military officers and forced to point to suspected guerrillas and members of the NPA mass base. She remains in military custody and is being held in a military camp in San isidro, Antipolo City.

Rosal called on human rights and women activists and advocates of "objective, authentic and courageous media reporting" to look into the case and seek justice for Lorena. He said the case was but "one example of the widespread, systematic and heinous violation of human rights and International Humanitarian Law" by the regime.

Reference:
Anne Buenaventura
Media Officer
Cellphone Number: +63910-240-3553



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