HUK COMEBACK?
[Reports have recently appeared in the press about renewed Hukbalahap activity in the Philippines. The "Huks" originated as part of the resistanece''movement against the Japanese occupation during World War ‘II.\Aftér V-J Day, the movement continued to grow, giving promise of 'being able to take power.-A plentiful supply“6f dollars and arms bolstered the pro-American government sufficiently to enable it ‘to survive, to take advantage of erroneous policies of the Huk leadership, to mount a savage repression and eventually smother the Huks. Iuis M. Taruc, a top leader, is still in prison. Another top leader, Dr. Jesus Lava, captured in 1964, is on trial.
[The Huks are said to have elected a new Political Bureau and to have again raised the slogan of a radical agrarian reform. These reports appear to have alarmed President Ferdinand Marcos. He cited them recently in rejecting a proposal to grant an amnesty to the guerrillas. His fears may have motivatéd him, at least in part, in coming to Washington in: September. He offered extravagant praise to Johnson, making it a Special- ‘point to back the American president in escalating the war‘in Vietnam. Marcos was rewarded with $55,000,000 in economic and military” assistance.
[The following comments on the reported resurgence of the Huks appeared as an editorial in the September 15 issue of Laging Una. Printed in Los Angeles, California, Laging Una is widely read in the Filipino community in the ‘United States. 4
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As far as one can judge from this distance, the reported revival of Huk insurgency in the Philippines is more a reflection of the-nervousness: of government officials, and: the propertied classes whose interests they represent, than of the present reality.
The nervousness is understandable: . Unrelieved oppression breeds rebellion. Despite glowing promises by successive administrations, the miserable plight of the landless farmers of Central Luzon (whose interests the Huks have espoused) continues. Sen. Juan R. Liwag of Nueva Ecija tells us that these exploited people "still find themselves in the same deplorable condition they were in twenty years ago."
He should know. Nueva Ecija is part of the dissident area. It may well be that the long-suppressed movement for radical agrarian reform is beginning to revive and that recent developments suggesting a Huk resurgence are storm Signals heralding a new upheaval.
According to the chief of the Philippine Constabulary, Brig.
Gen. Segundo P. Velasco, the Huks are down to a "hard core" of between SO and 100 armed men. They operate in the contiguous provinces
of Pampanga, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija and Tarlac. They enjoy the support of the rural population. The big landowners fear them. Out of fear, some give them money and other assistance.
Why are the authorities afraid of an armed force of 80 to 100 men, no more than a company in conventional military terms? Because, in the words of Velasco, they "have succeeded in winning the rural masses in Central Luzon by a new policy of attraction | which includes. execution of cattle stealers, rapists, and minor | wrong-doers, and the giving of money to farmers whose yield is not. sufficient to meet their daily needs.
In their alarm, the authorities have reinstituted the terror tactics of fifteen years ago. The Constabulary are once again on the rampage in the hunt for Huks and their sympathizers. A number of barrio dwellers have. been killed in cold blood by the minions of the law. This brutality. can only feed the fires of rebellion against. already intolerable conditions.
The Huk movement arose during. World War II as a movement: of. resistance. to the Japanese occupation, combined with land reforn. It reached the peak of its power and influence in the 1950's during the Quirino administration. It declined almost to the point of extinction due to.a:combination of its own programmatic and tactical errors and the crushing might of U.S. imperialism. Its best leaders were killed or captured. oo
In considering. the possible: revival of the movement, it is necessary to remember that the imperialist monster is still there, backstopping the Philippine ruling classes and the neo-colonialist government in Manila. However, the monster is now deeply bogged down in a land war on the Asian mainland and this may well encourage the revolutionary forces in the Philippines.
Huk resurgence: -would illustrate once again the historical truism that a movement of revolutionary reform, standing on the line of progress, does not pass from the scene until its mission is accomplished. When suppressed, it arises again. Genuine agrarian reform-- not the phony substitutes of a Magsaysay, a Macapagal, or a Marcos ~- is the Philippines most urgent need. There can be no real peace. or progress until landlordism with its ‘many derivative . evils is totally ¢ abolished.