PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

Skeletal remains may be victims of military salvaging — Ka Roger
March 26, 2002

The CPP today dismissed AFP allegations that the 58 skeletal remains unearthed from shallow graves in Candelaria, Quezon on March 5 belong to victims of the anti-infiltration drive of the CPP in Southern Tagalog in the late 1980s.

Communist Party spokesman Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal assailed Army spokesman Lt. Col. Jose Mabanta for claiming that the remains are those of victims of the NPA. “He is lying through his teeth. OPML never even reached Candelaria,” said Rosal, who said that the remains probably belong to victims of military salvaging. “OPML” (Operation Missing Link), was the code name for the anti-infiltration drive.

Rosal added that the AFP has been especially active in its campaign to defame the CPP and NPA. “This campaign is being coordinated by the CIA through the AFP Special Affairs Group to negate the victory of the rectification movement and justify the “terrorist” tag on the NPA and, thus, the direct intervention of the US in the AFP’s war against the revolutionary forces,” said Ka Roger.

Rosal further clarified that those responsible for purges that took place in the 1980s, who refused to rectify and remold themselves, have since been expelled from the Party. The most notorious, he said, are now in the employ and protection of the AFP and are active in its psywar operations against the revolutionary forces.

He identified Miel Laurenaria who headed the Southern Tagalog Regional Party Committee in the mid-1980s, as the person principally responsible for OPML. Laurenaria, who was later expelled from the CPP for her crimes, now heads the bandit group “RHB” that operates in the Quezon-Rizal border area. The RHB closely coordinates with the AFP in counter-guerrilla operations.

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



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