Many critics in Manila, and in the growing communist and socialist parties as well, objected strongly to the near total disregard for Philippine nationalism that these strict controls mandated. After the establishment of the Philippine Commonwealth in , U. Although the Philippine economy showed marked improvements before World War II, internal distribution of wealth remained much as it always had been.
Landlords grew rich at the expense of the peasant farmer who found it increasingly difficult to repay loans for seed or lease money made by the landlord. Confronted with these obstacles, individual initiative was stifled, productivity remained low, and whatever profits a farmer managed to scrape together went toward paying his landlord.
By , 80 percent of Luzon's farmers were hopelessly indebted to their landlords with no expectations of a brighter future at all. Although improvements had been made in education, transportation, health care and communications, the absence of social reforms served only to raise local frustrations with their central government.
The majority were either tenants or hired labor. In Pampanga Province, 70 percent of the farmers were tenants. This agrarian region proved ripe for anti-government insurgencies as the local population continued to struggle against landlords and had little faith in the central. Peasant farmers, many of whom were literate by this time thanks to American efforts to abolish mass illiteracy under Spanish rule, were demoralized by stagnant social conditions and the failure of the United States to grant Philippine independence after the war with Spain.
They realized landlords were taking advantage of them and began to seek outlets for their frustrations. The farmer tilled land owned by an absentee landlord or by the Church, either of which demanded not less than half of his crop, sometimes 70 percent, as rent and payment for seed. Additionally, the landlord controlled almost every aspect of his life. A story recalled by the Huk supreme commander, Luis Taruc, shares the experiences of many Filipino farmers during the early s.
Taruc told of his family moving by carabao cart from their home in San Luis, Pampanga, to take over the farm worked by his uncle in Bataan. Although they moved with great expectations about the land's productivity, they realized that it was owned by the Pabalan family, landlords from San Miguel, Bulacan, who would exact their percent of the crop as rent and interest payment. But because the land was more productive than that in Pampanga, they hoped to end up with a larger share than before.
The worldwide growth of interest in communism coincided with the rising level of disaffection in the Philippines.
Following the International, an American Comintern representative, Harrison George, joined with several Philippine socialists to form the base for the first Philippine communist party.
Together with Isabelo de los Reyes, Dominador Gomez, Crisanto Evangelista, and Antonio Ora, he fought an influential Church and established a small foothold for the communist cause in Luzon. The Peasant's Union exploited social conditions, the continued colonial status of the islands, the land-tenure system, and the deteriorating climate between landlords and peasants, to become the leader of a confederation of labor unions, the Philippine Labor Congress.
In , the organization officially associated itself with the Comintern and organized the nation's first legal communist political party, the Worker's Party. Upon his return to Luzon, he organized four new socialist and communist organizations and began to plan the "class struggle" against the Manila government.
Less than three months later, on the 13th anniversary of the Russian Bolshevik Revolution, he formally established the PKP and proclaimed its objectives.
In his address of 7 November, he set forth five guiding principles for the Philippine communist movement: to mobilize for complete national independence; to establish communism for the masses; to defend the masses against capitalist exploitation; to overthrow American imperialism in the Philippines; and to overthrow capitalism.
With these guidelines and the PKP banner that displayed the communist hammer and sickle emblem on a red background, surrounded by the words "Communist Party of the Philippines," Evangelista set out on his mission. Exactly two years after the birth of the PKP, the Philippine Supreme Court declared it illegal and Evangelista and several of his chief lieutenants were imprisoned. They were charged with plotting the overthrow of the government and instigating large-scale, bloody riots in Manila.
Other PKP members went underground and began to fight against landlords on behalf of the peasants. Although not widespread, PKP attacks unsettled central Luzon. Landlords were murdered, farm animals slaughtered, and many fields were put to the torch.
In reaction, President Quezon instituted several minor land reform measures, including putting a 30 percent limit on the amount of a tenant's crop that could be demanded by the landlord. Although highly lauded at its conception, this reform was all but ignored by landlords, courts, and the government. An unfortunate side-effect of the court decision was a dramatic rise in prestige and size of the heretofore weak Philippine Socialist Party formed in April in Pampanga and the militant Worker and Peasant's Union WPU.
Both organizations gained considerable influence during the next six years as poor socio-economic conditions remained unchanged for Luzon's tenant farmers and urban poor. Amidst increasing incidents of violent communist-sponsored demonstrations in Manila in , Quezon released PKP leaders Evangelista, Taruc, and de Los Reyes when they pledged their loyalty to the government and to American efforts to resist fascist and Japanese expansion.
Almost immediately after his parole, Evangelista assumed leadership of a united socialist front when the PKP merged with the Socialist Party on 7 November. The new organization openly proclaimed the communist doctrine and spread from its traditional stronghold in central Luzon to Bataan, Zambales, and to the islands of Cebu, Panay, and Negros.
Evangelista's bitter opposition to Quezon and his administration continued until when the threat of Japanese invasion brought a temporary truce and offers from the PKP to support the Commonwealth. The Philippine central government distrusted the CPP coalition and despite the growing clouds of war on the horizon, refused to negotiate any cooperative agreements with them.
The peasant remained trapped by his poor social and economic status and perceived the Manila government as content to let this condition continue. Now, on top of all these concerns, the threat of Japanese invasion cast an even darker shadow over the Filipino peasant. Robert R. In areas that the group controlled, they set up local governments and instituted land reforms, dividing up the largest estates equally among the peasants and often killing the landlords.
When Roxas won the Presidency, he instituted a campaign against the Huks. The Huks, however, succeeded in electing Taruc and other members of the Democratic Alliance to Congress. Between and the indiscriminate counterinsurgency measures by President Roxas "mailed fist" policies strengthened Huk appeal. The Philippine Army, Philippine Constabulary , and civilian guards attacked villages seeking out subversives..
Quezon , as she was en route to her hometown for the dedication of the Quezon Memorial Hospital. This attack brought worldwide condemnation of the Hukbalahaps, who claimed that the attack was done by "renegade" members. Public sympathies for the movement had been waning due to their postwar attacks.
The Huks carried out a campaign of raids, holdups, robbery, ambushes, murder, rape, massacre of small villages, kidnapping and intimidation.
The Huks confiscated funds and property to sustain their movement and relied on small village organizers for political and material support. An important movement in the campaign against the Huks was the deployment of hunter-killer counter guerilla special units. The "Nenita" unit — was the first of such special forces whose main mission was to eliminate the Huks. The Nenita terror tactics which were not only committed against dissidents but also towards law-abiding people sometimes helped the Huks gain supporters as a consequence.
The 7th BCT would develop a reputation toward employing a more comprehensive, more unconventional counterinsurgency strategy and reduced the random brutality against the civilian population. With the Huk Rebellion growing in strength and the security situation in the Philippines becoming seriously threatened, Magsaysay urged President Elpidio Quirino to suspend the writ of habeas corpus for the duration of the Huk campaign. American assistance allowed Magsaysay to create more BCTs, bringing the total to twenty-six.
By , army strength had increased by 60 percent over the previous year with 1,man BCTs. Major military offensive campaigns against the Huks were carried out by the 7th, 16th, 17th, and 22nd BCTs.
Santos' masterstroke was the enlistment of Pedro Valentin, a local mountain leader who knew the people and the terrain like the back of his hand. Capadocia died of battle wounds on September 20, In , Lt. Force X employed psychological warfare through combat intelligence and infiltration that relied on secrecy in planning, training, and execution of attack.
With the all out anti-dissidence campaigns against the Huks, they numbered less than 2, by and without the protection and support of local supporters, active Huk resistance no longer presented a serious threat to Philippine security. Further clean up operations of guerillas remaining lasted throughout , diminishing its number to less than 1, by year's end.
The Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan was again resurrected as Bagong Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan during the early s, but the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas shifted from the use of armed struggle to parliamentary struggle. Guerrilla warfare against the government continued until its surrender along with the Party during Martial Law. The Agreement between the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas and the government lead to the recognition of the Huk Veterans with a share of war reparations and benefits.
In , President Ferdinand Marcos cited this armed resistance movement as the reason for his imposition of martial law. Military Wiki Explore. Popular pages. Project maintenance.
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