Philippine Rebel Leader Rebuts Bad Image

AP ^ | January 09. 2004 | JIM GOMEZ

[Tailgunner Joe]

Rebel spokesman Gregorio Rosal reads a statement
from his laptop computer during a clandestine press
conference Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2004 at the communist New
People's Army encampment in northern Philippines.

NEW PEOPLE'S ARMY ENCAMPMENT, Philippines -- Wearing his trademark Mao cap and neck scarf, Gregorio Rosal appeared in a communist rebel jungle camp with the tools of his trade: an M-16 rifle, laptop computer, a pocket radio, mobile phones and a harmonica.

For more than a decade, the frail Philippine rebel spokesman has built a reputation for public relations on behalf of the Marxist guerrillas, countering the military's portrayal of the fighters as murderous terrorists - a view shared by the U.S. government.

His public relations efforts were on display again this week.

Rosal pulled out a harmonica to entertain reporters who trekked across pine-clad mountains for a clandestine news conference of the underground New People's Army.

"I'll provide the caption for you: the singing terrorist," he said as photographers captured the moment.

Rosal vowed to intensify attacks ahead of May elections to help bring down President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's government for its strong ties with the United States.

"Bringing about the collapse of the Arroyo regime is the only rightful reward for all of its puppetry to the imperialist U.S.," he said.

The rebel spokesman contacts the press by mobile phone for secret briefings without being caught delivering the messages of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the 9,300-strong NPA. The rebels have been waging a Marxist rebellion for 35 years.

The guerrillas have gone through stormy periods - including military defeats and the loss of support from North Korea, China and Eastern Europe - but still remain their nations most potent security threat.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, the Philippine guerrillas became a target of the U.S.-led global war on terror when Washington placed them on its list of terrorist organizations and urged nations to help wipe them out by denying them refuge and money.

But Rosal says the homegrown guerrillas were hardly affected because they survive on local contributions, attack government troops for weapons or buy guns from corrupt officers, and get "the best sons and daughters" as recruits from families suffering from poverty, a lack of land, and government neglect.

"The government is the No. 1 recruiter of the New People's Army," Rosal said.

For May 10 national elections, the guerrillas are demanding that candidates pay for rebel permits to campaign in NPA-influenced villages. The government has condemned the practice as extortion and ordered the military to stop it.

Like the raging insurgency that he represents, the 57-year-old Rosal reflects the guerrillas' resiliency.

Since he took up arms in the early 1970s, he has been wounded once in a clash, was nearly shot by a comrade in a mistaken encounter, and was sidelined by a mild stroke for three years. After falling ill, he assumed a false name and was treated in government hospitals in Manila.

Even among guerrillas, Rosal is a celebrity. In the jungle camp, young guerrillas waited to get their pictures taken with him.

"He's so popular and he's an inspiration," said a 27-year-old rebel who gave her name as Ka (Comrade) Aya.

"Despite his age, he's still here. It means the revolution is right," said Aya, M-16 ammunition packs slung on her body as she prepared a lunch of steamed rice, fish and vegetables.

At the news conference that opened with young guerrillas singing the Internationale, the socialist revolutionary anthem, in a shed decorated with M-16s and red flags, Rosal threatened more attacks and warned American troops joining counterterrorism exercises to stay away from rebel zones.

Rosal has claimed responsibility in radio interviews for several deadly rebel attacks. He's also been accused of a deadly purge of comrades suspected of being military spies in the 1980s - a charge he denies.

Ironically, Rosal, one of the country's most wanted insurgents, said he once dreamed of becoming a soldier.

A son of poor peasants, he began working early to help support his family by selling mosquito nets and bamboo sleeping mats. He once worked as a bet collector for a popular but illegal numbers game called jueteng and thought of becoming a soldier, but dropped the plan after finding out he was too short.

In the political turmoil of the early 1970s, Rosal became a trade union organizer and was jailed when the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos placed the Philippines under martial law. He escaped from prison and went underground.