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In 1949, Hukbalahap members ambushed and murdered Aurora Quezon, Chairman of the Philippine Red Cross and widow of the Philippines' second president, Manuel L. Quezon, as she was en route to her hometown for the dedication of the Quezon Memorial Hospital. Several others were also killed, including her eldest daughter and son-in-law. This attack brought worldwide condemnation of the Hukbalahaps, who claimed that the attack was done by "renegade" members. The continuing condemnation and new post-war causes of the movement prompted the Huk leaders to adopt a new name, the 'Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan' or the 'People's Liberation Army' in 1950
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. The Huk movement was mainly spread in the central provinces of Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, Bulacan, and in Nueva Vizcaya, Pangasinan, Laguna, Bataan and Quezon.
Hukbalahap was finally put down through a series of reforms and military victories by Filipino President Ramon Magsaysay. By 1952, with the successful government programs, the Huk movement had lost the impetus to attain their ultimate goal of establishing a People's Democracy in the Philippines. The revitalization of the Armed Forces and the failure of the HMB in August of 1950 to exploit their tactical and psychological advantages, contributed to the victory of the Government.
Several reasons brought the decline of the Huk power and prestige. The rebels became tired and exhausted of the fighting due to the continuous military operations which kept them on the move to elude capture. The people who sympathized with their cause did not have the time to farm their crops which made it difficult for them to contribute to the revolution. As the villagers became hesitant to give food and aid, the Huks began to steal from the peasants and sometimes with the use of force. The effective utilization of reforms and promises improved the image of the government and provided hope for the insurgents, the 1951elections were relatively peaceful and honest, with the AFP deputized to safeguard the sanctity of the ballot.
The Huks were also deprived of the opportunity to attend to their political operations because of the relentless pursuit by government troops. This further eroded their support in the barrios, caused several insurgents to return to their families, and the others to take advantage of the amnesty program.
It required two major changes to the post-war status quo for the Philippine government to defeat the Huks.
First, the United States had to recognize the severity of the insurgency and provide appropriate amounts of advice and military and economic assistance to help counter it. Luckily, this American advice was sound and well received by an enlightened Filipino leader; Magsaysay.
Second; a government victory required an administration in Manila that was more concerned with improving the quality of life for its citizens than with self-enrichment. Ramon Magsaysay provided the latter when he accepted the position of Secretary of National Defense and later won the office of President.
Hukbalahap still exist but with a different name. It became New People’s Army (Bagong HUkbong Bayan)
It was formed and founded by Bernabe Buscayno A.K.A. "Commander Dante" on March 29, 1969. The Maoist NPA conducts its armed guerrilla struggle based on the strategical line of protracted 'people's war'.
The NPA collects "revolutionary taxes" in areas where it operates mostly from businesses. This includes mining and logging operations - especially foreign owned enterprises that provides employment to the people with the belief that crippling the country's economy would give favor for a revolution to occur.
The NPA aims to overthrow the Philippine regime in favor of a Communist state.
History of Hukbalahap Movement
After the Japanese invasion, peasant leaders met on March 29, 1942 in a forest clearing located in Sitio Bawit, Barrio San Julian, Cabiao, Nueva Ecija, at the junction of Tarlac, Pampanga, and Nueva Ecija provinces to form a united organization. "Hukbong Bayan Laban sa mga Hapon" was chosen as the name of the organization. After the meeting, a military committee was formed with Luis Taruc (chairman), Castro Alejandrino (2nd in command), Bernardo Poblete ("Banal"), and Felepa Culala ("Dayang-Dayang" – an amazon whose unit had killed several Japanese soldiers) as members.
However, though the Huks fought the Japanese, they also "tried to thwart United States Army Forces in the Far East guerrillas", "therefore, they were considered disloyal and were not accorded U.S. recognition or benefits at the end of the war.
The strength of the Huk organization came from the mostly agrarian peasants of Central Luzon.
Between March 1942 and August 1948, the Huks became a trained and experienced force, well-equipped and well-prepared for its guerrilla warfare. The initial force of 500 armed Huks which was organized into five squadrons had increased to a fully armed guerrilla force of 20,000 men. The group's leaders, among them figurehead Luis Taruc, communist party Secretary General Jesus Lava, and Commander Hizon (Benjamin Cunanan), aimed to lead the Philippines toward Marxist ideals and communist revolution. The Hukbalahap Insurrection (1946–1954) was their attempt to take over the Philippines. The Hukhbalahap's methods were often portrayed by other guerrilla leaders as terrorist; for example, Ray C. Hunt, an American who led his own band of 3000 guerrillas, said of the Hukbalahap that[8]
the Hukbalahap claimed that it extended its guerrilla warfare campaign for over a decade merely in search of recognition as World War II freedom fighters and former American and Filipino allies who deserved a share of war reparations.
After its inception, the group grew quickly and by late summer 1943 claimed to have 15,000 to 20,000 active men and women military fighters and 50,000 more in reserve. These fighters' weaponry was obtained primarily by stealing it from battlefields and downed planes left behind by the Japanese, Filipinos and Americans. They fought Japanese troops to rid the country of its imperialist occupation, worked to subvert the Japanese tax-collection service, intercepted food and supplies to the Japanese troops, and created a training school where they taught political theory and military tactics based on Marxist ideas. 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.