LUCENA CITY — The plan of communist insurgents to reestablish its presence in Mindoro Island has failed with the death of three top New People’s Army (NPA) officials in the Southern Tagalog, including the daughter of the late NPA spokesperson Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal, in an encounter in Brooke’s Point town in Palawan province on Tuesday, the military said.
“Their plan to complement ROC (Regional Operations Command) MRGU (Main Regional Guerrilla Unit) in Mindoro to regain and reestablish base has failed again with the killing of personalities and leaders of SRMA (subregional military area) 4E,” Lt. Col. Dennis Cana, Armed Forces of the Philippines Southern Luzon Command public information officer, texted to the Inquirer.
Five suspected NPAs, including three of its top officials in Southern Luzon — Bonifacio “Salvador Luminoso” Magramo, secretary of the subregional military guerrilla unit under the Southern Tagalog regional party committee; Andrea “Ka Naya” Rosal, Ka Roger’s daughter and the deputy secretary of the same unit; and Noel “Ka Celso” Siasico, front operational command — were killed in a military offensive in Brooke’s Point in southern Palawan.
The three rebel leaders carried a combined bounty of P16 million for their capture. In November 2019, the local government and the military issued a bounty amounting to P5.4 million for Magramo, P6.1 million for Siasico, and P4.5 million for Rosal, who had been in a top list of NPA members in Palawan wanted by the law enforcement authorities.
Her father’s daughter
Andrea was the daughter of Ka Roger with Rosemarie Domanais, another communist rebel leader. Domanais was killed in an encounter with military forces in 2011. Rosal, the top propagandist of communist rebels, passed away on June 22, 2011, at the age of 64 after suffering a heart attack.
Andrea was eight months pregnant when she was arrested in Caloocan City in March 2014 based on a warrant of arrest issued in Mauban, Quezon province, on murder charges.
She gave birth on May 17 but her premature daughter died after two days due to complications. She regained her freedom in September 2015.
The bodies of Rosal and other slain NPA rebels were to be turned over to the municipal government of Brooke’s Point on Friday night, according to the military.
Communist insurgents operating in Oriental and Occidental Mindoro provinces have also suffered tremendous setbacks from the military offensives and mass surrenders of guerrilla fighters and mass sympathizers early this year up to the present.