Communist rebels admit death of Rosal’s wife in encounter

LUCENA CITY, Philippines—Three months since the wife of communist rebel spokesman Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal was killed in an encounter, the Communist Party of the Philippines’ regional committee in the Southern Tagalog Region has officially confirmed her death.

In a statement dated February 15 but sent to the Inquirer and posted on the rebel web site only this week, the CPP Regional Party Committee confirmed a military report that Rosemarie Dumanais alias “Ka Soly” and “Ka Ensa” was killed in a clash with government forces in the hinterlands of Mauban, Quezon, last February 7.

The CPP described Dumanais as a “dedicated woman revolutionary and a mother worthy of emulation,” who started her involvement with the New People’s Army in 1979.

A Camarines Sur native, Dumanais, 52, was first assigned as a student organizer in Camarines Sur before she became a guerrilla leader in Central Quezon and rose to become a member of the party’s regional central committee until her death, said the CPP.

Dumanais met and married Rosal inside the revolutionary movement where they raised an unspecified number of children, added the CPP.

A military report, however, said the union bore two daughters, Andrea and Mafe, both of whom also joined the communist movement.

The rebel movement said Dumanais’ death “is as heavy as the mountains of Sierra Madre and Banahaw,” both known lairs of the communist guerrillas.

“Members of the revolutionary movement, the Party and the People’s Army mourn her death but remember her life full of heroism—as an exemplary comrade, revolutionary, woman and mother,” the CPP said in Filipino.

In a text message, Colonel Eduardo Año, commander of the Army’s 201st Infantry Brigade operating in Quezon, expressed his condolences to the family of Dumanais.

He conveyed to the woman guerrilla’s family his offer of a decent burial ground for her.

Año said Dumanais’ death was a major setback for the rebel movement in Southern Tagalog.

Early last month, quoting sources allegedly from inside the rebel movement, Año reported that a female guerrilla who was slain in Mauban had turned out to be Dumanais.

The military dispatched a special team to locate Dumanais’ burial ground to give her a “decent resting place” but failed to locate it.

In that report, the military said “Dumanais was buried by her comrades after dragging her body away from the encounter site.”

Rosal had long been avoiding giving media interviews and the last time he came out of hibernation was when he issued his New Year greetings last January.