Timeline Of The Communist Rebellion In The Philippines

The following is the timeline of events of CPP-NPA-NDF rebellion, a conflict between the government of the Philippines, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the New People's Army (NPA) and the National Democratic Front (NDF).

1970s

1971

* 21 August – Two hand grenades explode during an election campaign rally of the Liberal Party attended by about 4,000 people at Plaza Miranda in the district of Quiapo, Manila, causing nine deaths and injuring 95 others. Among those killed instantly were a 5-year-old child and ''The Manila Times'' photographer Ben Roxas, and many on stage were injured, including incumbent Senator Jovito Salonga, Liberal Party president Gerardo Roxas and Sergio Osmeña, Jr., son of former President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, Sergio Osmeña. The government of President Ferdinand Marcos accuses the communists of staging the attack and suspends the writ of habeas corpus.

1972

* 4 July - The MV ''Karagatan'', which was supposed to bring armaments supplied by China to the NPA reaches Digoyo Point in Palanan, Isabela. However the ship is discovered by a military patrol and is abandoned as it runs aground.
* 18 July - A government raid on an NPA hideout in Cordon, Isabela leads to the discovery of the so-called Taringsing Documents, outlining plans by the CPP-NPA to overthrow the government by 1973.
* 21 September - President Ferdinand Marcos signs Proclamation No. 1081 placing the entire Philippines under Martial Law, citing the communist rebellion and related incidents. However, its implementation is delayed for 2 days.
*22 September - Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile escapes an alleged ambush blamed on the NPA in San Juan, Metro Manila, providing the Marcos regime with an excuse to implement Martial Law
*23 September - Martial Law is finally announced on television by President Marcos hours after series of mass arrests of against dissidents, including communist supporters. Thousands are detained and several are killed or forcibly disappeared in the ensuing crackdown which lasts for 14 years. Others go into hiding or exile or take up arms by joining the NPA in the provinces
*late September to December - The military launches its first major operation against the NPA's primary stronghold in the Sierra Madre mountains in San Mariano, Isabela, forcing the CPP leadership to disperse nationwide but fails in its objective to eliminate the rebellion in Isabela.

1976

* 27 August – President Ferdinand Marcos announced the capture of top NPA commander Victor Corpus. The announcement followed the previous week's arrest of NPA's second in command Bernabe Buscayno and 23 NPA officers. Marcos described the arrests as the final blow to the insurgency.
* 13 November – NPA rebels attacked a logging truck in Mambusao, Davao Oriental. Six security troops were killed and three were wounded.
* 22 November – NPA rebels staged a raid on 5 barrios situated on the perimeter of Clark Air Base, seizing 43 weapons from the local CHDF militia.

1977

* 27–29 August – Communist guerrillas conducted two ambushes on units of the Philippine Constabulary (PC) in Pampanga and Subic, Zambales. Six PC members were killed and four wounded.
* 10 November - CPP chairman Jose Maria Sison is arrested at a roadside checkpoint in San Fernando, La Union. Effective control of the NPA is passed on to commander Rodolfo Salas.

1980s

1981

* 19 April – Seventeen people were killed in a grenade attack on San Pedro cathedral, Davao City, during mass. Two grenades were thrown into the congregation as the traditional Easter service was concluding. New People's Army rebels were among several groups suspected of blame, and two young Marxists were apprehended for the attack.

1983

* 29 November – A band of 70 NPA rebels conducted a large scale ambush on Godod between Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur. At least 46 soldiers were killed, including the commander of the 30th Battalion of the 4th Infantry Division.

1985

* 6 October – At least 14 rebels were killed in an encounter with a military patrol in Polanco, Zamboanga del Norte.

1986

* 5 March - The new government of President Corazon Aquino releases CPP chairman Jose Maria Sison, NPA commander Bernabe Buscayno and 2 other communist leaders as part of her efforts to launch peace negotiations with the CPP-NPA.
* 13 September - The CPLA made a "''sipat''" or ceasefire with the Philippine government at the Mt. Data Hotel, in Bauko, Mountain Province. The agreement between the two sides was called the 1986 Mount Data Peace Accord.
* 30 September – Authorities arrest NPA chairman Rodolfo Salas along with his wife and driver outside a Manila hospital amid peace talks between the rebels and the government.
* 10 December – A 60-day cease fire is enacted between the NPA and the Philippine government.

1987

* 22 January – 13 demonstrating farmers are killed by security forces in Mendiola Street, Manila. This leads to the breakdown of peace talks between the government and the CPP-NPA-NDF and the resumption of military offensives against the rebels.

1988

* 30 March – A police raid leads to the arrest of NPA chief commander Romulo Kintanar, general secretary Rafael Baylosis and central committee member Benjamin de Vera at a rebel safe house in southern Manila.

1989

* 21 April – Rebels assassinate U.S. military adviser James N. Rowe in Quezon City and injure his driver.
* 26 September – Two United States Department of Defense contractors are killed outside the Clark Air Base by rebels.

1990s

1992

* The CPP leadership under Jose Maria Sison launches the Second Great Rectification Movement promoting a hardline response to the collapse of communism in eastern Europe and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. This creates a serious split between its supporters, known as the Reaffirmationists (RAs) and relatively moderate critics, known as the Rejectionists (RJs) that lead to the expulsion and assassination of several members and the establishment of rival political and armed groups throughout the decade.
* 15 February – 47 government soldiers are killed when the NPA ambushes a military convoy in Marihatag, Surigao del Sur
* 24 September – President Fidel V. Ramos signs into law Republic Act 7636, which repealed the Anti-Subversion Law of 1957 that outlawed membership in the Communist Party as part of his efforts to open peace negotiations with the CPP-NPA.

1997

* 30 October – The NPA raided the police station of Rodriguez, Rizal, ransacking the armory, killing one police officer, and abducting Rene Francisco, the police chief. He was later released on December 5 in Tanay, Rizal.

1998

* 16 March – The Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) is signed by the government and the NDFP in The Hague, Netherlands. It calls on both the government and the CPP-NPA-NDFP to adhere to international humanitarian law and provided set mechanisms to oversee the process.

2000s

2000

* From January 15 to February 5, skeletal remains of at least a hundred individuals, mostly NPA rebels, were exhumed by government authorities from various mass graves in Brgy. Taglimao, Cagayan de Oro. They were believed to be victims of a purge by the NPA in the mid-1980s, known as ''Operation Zombie''. Military authorities estimated that more than 4,000 people were killed, in which only 15 were actually "deep penetration agents" (DPAs), the main target. Since 1999, the remains of at least 416 of them had been recovered in the NPA "killing fields" in the said village. Some former NPA guerillas confessed that the mass killings, particularly of at least 60 rebels in 1986, were allegedly carried out on orders of CPP founding chairman Jose Maria Sison.
* February 5 – Suspected communists assassinated a village chief and two civilians in Naga, then part of Zamboanga del Sur.
* March 2 – About 40 NPA rebels attacked an army detachment in Balilihan, Bohol but immediately withdrew. They later ambushed a truckload of soldiers and militiamen, who had sent to reinforce the detachment, along the way in Catigbian, killing at least 5 soldiers and their officer, as well as 4 militiamen.
* March 11 – The 43rd Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army captured a NPA camp in Bontoc, Southern Leyte; 5 rebels were killed in a firefight.
* May 9 – Combined forces of the Army's 1st Infantry Battalion's ''Task Force Banahaw'' and the regional police mobile group encountered a band of about 50 NPA fighters in Paete, Laguna; 8 suspected rebels were killed.
* June 15 – Seven soldiers and a militiaman were killed in an ambush by the NPA in Maslog, Eastern Samar.
* June 28 – NPA insurgents ambushed a military medical mission in Jones, Isabela, killing an Army colonel and 12 of his troops in their worst attack within a decade.
"Mindoro NPA rebels kill 8 cops"
' PHNO. July 6, 2000. Retrieved Feb 26, 2022.
* July – government forces discovered a mass grave in Baybay, Leyte containing the skeletal remains of more than 10 suspected victims of a rebel purge in the early 1980s.
* July 3 – A NPA commander identified as ''Ka Alpha'' was killed, and three policemen and a civilian were wounded, in a clash in Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro.
* July 4 – 60 suspected NPA rebels ambushed a police team tasked to investigate the killing of a barangay chairman a day prior, in a mountain village in Victoria, Oriental Mindoro, killing 8 of them and wounding five others.
* September 30 – A military group returning from a three-day civic action, was ambushed by the NPA in Paquibato District, Davao City; at least 4 from the group were killed, as well as 5 civilians.
* November 18 – About 80 NPA rebels attacked a police station in Caramoan, Camarines Sur, later repelled by the policemen; at least 6 guerrillas, a policeman, and a militiaman, were killed.
* December 3 – A police chief of Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro was assassinated by four unidentified men, believed to be NPA rebels. It was said that it was in retaliation to the death of a certain ''Ka Joel'', leader of a three-man NPA group assigned the town, in an encounter in August.

2001

* November 17 – NPA rebels ambushed 25 soldiers of an Army Special Forces platoon on board a dump truck that had hit a landmine in Cateel, Davao Oriental, killing 18 of them; the remaining soldiers returned fire in the ensuing firefight that killed 10 rebels.

2002

* On 30 June, one soldier and 15 militants were injured after a skirmish in Nueva Era, Ilocos Norte. Documents and pamphlets were seized from rebel bunkers.

2003

* On 19 April, 5 soldiers were killed and 9 wounded in a gun fight with NPA rebels outside Ligao, Albay.

2005

* On 13 July, NPA cadres killed nine soldiers and injured three in Ilocos Sur.
* On 29 September, left-wing party Bayan Muna, accused by security forces of being an NPA front, announced that 53 of its members had been killed by alleged government hired gunmen between 2001 and 2005. Leftist labor movement Kilusan Mayo Uno seconded the accusations, claiming that 33 of its activists were killed in 2005. Satur Ocampo described the killings as "political repression masquerading as counter-insurgency and antiterrorism operations". A PNP official said that the killings would be fully investigated, and following an official enquiry, at least two soldiers were charged with murder.
* On 28 October, at least 10 militants were wounded in clashes in Surigao del Sur.
* On 10 November, rebels set light to a public bus in Bataan after the owner refused to pay a revolutionary tax and NPA rebels in Santa Ignacia, Tarlac.
* May 18 – A civilian was killed in a military encounter against NPA rebels in Bulan, Sorsogon.
* June 23 – A rebel ambush in Laguna resulted in the injury of a soldier.
* June 26 – An NPA-planted landmine hit a military minivan in Camarines Sur, wounding a soldier.
* July 16 – A soldier and a policeman were killed in a gunfight in Occidental Mindoro. On the same day, the NPA allegedly assassinated an army officer in Bulacan.
* July 21 – The NPA raided a police station in Isabela, stealing four rifles and a number of communication sets.
* July 22 – NPA rebels attacked a ferry terminal and a police station in Matnog, Sorsogon.
* July 24:
** NPA rebels, had purportedly failed in collecting "revolutionary taxes" from owners of public vehicles, detonated two landmines on a highway in Tago, Surigao del Sur, hitting a jeepney wherein five of its passengers were seriously injured, along with ten pedestrians.
** NPA taken hostage some fifty civilians in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, as they gathered them in a checkpoint set up by some hundred rebels led by George Madlos (''Ka Oris''). Some were released later that day.
** On the same day, suspected NPA members set fire to a Globe telecommunications tower in Camarines Sur.
* August 8 – An NPA attack caused the injury of five soldiers who were at the time packing relief supplies for evacuees from the eruption of Mayon Volcano. In a separate incident, the AFP killed five rebels and lost one soldier during clashes with the NPA.

2007

* In May, the NPA imposed a countrywide campaign tax on politicians willing to participate in the midterm elections. According to a PNP source, the victorious candidate of the Albay