The history of communist insurgency in the Philippines dates
back in World War II when Marxist-Leninist inspired group called Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa Hapon (Hukbalahap)
fought on the side of Filipino and American forces against the Japanese. That
was so because Russia or USSR, the first communist state in the world and its
patron, was part of the Allied Forces that fought Germany in World War II. The
Hukbalahap also championed the cause of the peasants and also fought the
landlords in Central Luzon and those who were suspected of collaborating with
the Japanese.
During the election of 1946 just after the war members of
the Hukbalahap led by Luis Taruc ran for election and some of them won. However,
President Roxas unseated them, and they went to the jungle to revolt. The image
projected by the communists as defenders of the peasants and the poor plus the
corruption of the succeeding president had strengthened their mass based
support as well as its armed capability. It came close to victory so that it
even threatened to advance to Manila, the national capital.
In 1949, the Filipino communists got a morale boost and
inspiration from a world event which was the overthrow of China’s Kuomintang
government of Chiang Kai-shek by the communists who were led by Mao Zedong. The
victory of the Chinese communists had somehow strengthened the conviction of
their local counterparts that the rebellion could succeed.
The ambush by the communists of the popular former first
lady Aurora Aragon Quezon, chairperson of the Philippine National Red Cross and
widow of the late President Manuel L. Quezon, and her daughter “Baby” turned
many Filipinos against them. President
Harry Truman of the United States, wary of communist victory, sent arms and
other war materiel to the Philippines to help its armed forces. One shining moment in the fight against the
communists was the appointment of Ramon Magsaysay as defense secretary. Magsaysay
enforced strict discipline in the military and vastly improved its capability
to deal with the armed rebellion. Later, as the President of the Philippines he
implemented social and economic reforms that eventually broke the backbone of communist
rebellion. The communists were completely defeated in 1954 with their top
leaders killed, captured and surrendered.
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) was vanquished,
but its ideology was not. To keep that ideology from inspiring the youth, it
should be discredited or replaced with a better one. The Marxist concept of sharing
all works according to one’s ability and all benefits according to one’s need
and a utopian society where everyone is equal is indeed appealing not only to
the poor but also to most people. Corruption, unequal distribution of wealth
and the privileges of the elites are ills of the Philippine society. The
communists believed that application of their ideology is the solution to the
country’s problems. Some people believed then that communism was the wave of
the future whose eventual triumph could not be prevented.
Despite government’s effort to subdue it, Marxist-Leninist
idea was passed on to new generation of youths and students. A line of communications between the old and
the new communists was open. Jose Maria Sison alias Amado Guerrero emerged as
the leader of the then communist youths. He differed however with the old group
of Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP) or the Communist Party of the Philippines
regarding the way it carried out its operations in the past which resulted to
the defeat or near extinction of the PKP. Furthermore, Sison was more inclined
to the Chinese style communism or Maoism rather the Soviets’ on which the
remnants of Hukbalahap under PKP Secretary General Jesus Lava adhered to. Correcting
past errors, Sison made the First Rectification of the Communist Strategy.
The old communists under Lava however, took exception of
Sison’s rectification campaign which led to the division between the old and
the young communists. Sison considered Lava and his groups as counter
revolutionary and revisionists. Sison bolted out from the PKP in 1968 and reestablished
the Communist Party of the Philippines with him as the chairman. On March 29,
1969, Sison founded the New People’s Army (NPA) as the armed wing of the party.
The CPP/NPA made one of their boldest moves when they bombed
the political campaign rally of the Liberal Party on August 21, 1971, in Plaza
Miranda, Quiapo, Manila. It resulted to 9 dead and 95 injured, and almost wiped
out the entire opposition senatorial ticket of the Party. The public attributed
the incident to President Ferdinand Marcos. The communist- instigated rally in
the streets spearhead by the League of Filipino Students created an atmosphere
of instability and chaos so that Marcos had to suspend the privilege of the
Writ of Habeas Corpus.
Near the end of his term, Marcos declared martial law which
enabled him to extend his rule for another 13 long years. Under the pretext of
containing communist and Muslim rebellions he imprisoned political oppositions,
silenced the media and put up a puppet legislative assembly. The abuses
committed by men in uniform in the hinterlands had somehow helped the NPA
heightened their recruitment in the country side.
The repressive and corrupt Martial Law regime became a
common ground for the communist and other well meaning groups to rally against.
On April 24, 1973 the CPP/NPA established the National Democratic Front (NDF)
as umbrella group in coalition with other sectors that were opposed to the
dictatorship.
During the Martial Law years many of those who joined the
CPP/NPA were intelligent idealistic youths who had bright future ahead of them
if they had chosen to be in the mainstream path. But they chose to go
underground and to live in hardship to follow their conviction.
Meanwhile, the United States and the neighboring South Viet
Nam were defeated by the communist North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong in
1975. The historic event was a sort of psychological boost to the local
communists in the thought that a dedicated and highly motivated weaker force
can defeat a seemingly bigger and formidable foe with a status of a super
power.
The situation under Marcos came to a head when Benigno
Aquino, a prominent opposition leader, was assassinated upon his arrival from
the United States. Putting the blame on Marcos, people took to the street to
protests. The resulting political upheaval took its toll on the economy and
there was a strong call from the people for Marcos to resign. To appease them and
to regain his image abroad, Marcos called for a snap election. Though he was
declared a winner against his rival, Corazon Aquino, the people thought that
the election was rigged. In February 1986 people turned out in large numbers to
protest. Marcos woes were worsened when his defense minister Juan Ponce Enrile
and Vice chief of staff Fidel Ramos defected to the protesters. Under extreme
pressure, Marcos fled to Hawaii and Cory Aquino was proclaimed as president.
The stand of the communists in that historic moment to watch
in the sideline and to wait and see was understandable considering that the
Philippine military had taken the center stage of the February revolution. They
knew that the military was uncompromisingly anti-communist, and there was no
possibility that it would collaborate with them.
In 1991, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic collapsed after
70 years of adapting Marxism. The event had a serious and negative implication
to the cause the local communist are fighting for - their ideology. The
experience of the USSR strongly indicated that communism does not work. However,
the CPP/NPA did not go with the demise of the USSR. Although it has weakened,
it continues to exist and remains a potent threat to national security.
Furthermore, after the death of Mao Zedong, his successors
opened the door for private business ownership and invited foreign investors thus undoing his closed market policy. The result was that the economy of China
improved tremendously. China is now the second largest economy in the world.
However, China maintains its authoritarian character, and still considers
itself as a communist state. The experience in China proves that Marxist state
controlled economy stifles growth, and that an economy where businesses are
privately owned is a better economic system.
Some of the former conditions which facilitated the growth
of the CPP/NPA were gone. And worse the communists suffered enormous casualties
in the hands of the Armed Forces of the Philippines which caused their strength
to dwindle. The central committee then declared the implementation of Second Great
Rectification Movement in the 1990’s to make internal criticism on mistakes committed
in the past. It was launched in 1992 and largely completed in 1998.
The rectification resulted to the purges in the rank of the
CPP/NPA . Hundreds of members were
secretly and summarily executed by their own comrades on suspicion of being
deep penetration agent of the military. This resulted to the divisions and
demoralization to the ranks of the communists. Jose Maria Sison reiterated his
policy of a protracted war. Those who adhered to his view were called the reaffirmists.
There were those who rejected his idea and believed that the NPA was ready to
attack the urban centers as prelude to overthrow the government. Those who
supported that view were called rejectionists.
The CPP/NPA’s rebellion had exacted its toll on the
Filipinos especially those living in the rural area. It is estimated that the
total number of death since the NPA’s founding in 1969 has now totaled 40,000.
The casualties included military, police, civilians and communists. The NPAs have
sustained their struggle by collecting taxes on business establishments like
mining, logging, telecommunication companies and others. It is estimated that they
had collected 1.5 billion pesos since 1998. The CPP/NPA is also reportedly
receiving money from foreign donors and sponsors. The government and the
military termed the collection of the NPAs as extortion.
NPAs’ imposition of revolutionary taxes has tarnished its
image. They convey their message to uncooperative businessmen and establishments
by destroying or burning trucks and backhoes and other equipments. There were also reports of liquidations by the
NPAs of men in uniform and civilians that are against them. One of the high
profile assassinations that they carried out in 1989 was that of US Army Colonel
James Rowe, founder of US Army Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE)
Course. It is also reported that the NPAs recruit children as combatants which
is a violation of children’s rights. Because of their atrocities the NPAs were
declared by the US State Department as a foreign terrorist organization and as
so did the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy.
It is estimated that the
strength of the CPP/NPA has reduced dramatically in recent years. During its
peak in 1987 the group has about 25,200 members with 15,500 firearms. By the
end of 2009 their strength was only 4,702 with 4,895 firearms. The number of
barangays or villages where it has influence was estimated at 8,500 in 1987,
but in 2009 it was 1,077 or only 2.5% of the total 42,000 barangays.
The Philippines is now a newly industrializing country and
is the 45th largest economy in the world in terms of GDP. By 2050
the Philippines is projected by HSBC to become the 16th largest
economy in the world if it can sustain its good economic indicators such as
educational opportunity and democratic government or strong rule of law. Ironically
the CPP/NPA depends on negative indicators like corruption, weak economy, and
social instability in the government to sustain its armed struggle. Without
these adverse conditions the people have no reason to support or sympathize
with it. Worse, most people now believe that communism is a failed ideology.
Judging from the steady decline of its memberships, the NPA’s chance to overthrow
the government through armed struggle is indeed bleak, or that it would take
them long years to succeed if they could ever do it at all.
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