Alex Boncayao Brigade
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The Alex Boncayao Brigade (abbreviated as ABB; also known as the SPARU Unit) was the urban
assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...
unit of the
New People's Army The New People's Army (; abbreviated NPA or BHB) is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). It acts as the CPP's principal organization, aiming to consolidate political power from what it sees as the present "bourgeo ...
, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines. Organized in 1984, the unit broke away from the New People's Army as a consequence of a split in ideology during the 1990s. In 1997, the Alex Boncayao Brigade allied itself with the Revolutionary Proletarian Army, the armed wing of the Revolutionary Workers' Party.


Background

The Alex Boncayao Brigade was established in May 1984 and was named after a labor leader killed by
Philippine government The government of the Philippines () has three interdependent branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The Philippines is governed as a unitary state under a presidential representative and democratic constitutional repub ...
security forces the year before. The brigade became especially active after the departure of then-President
Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...
as a consequence of the People Power Revolution, and during the term of President
Corazon Aquino María Corazón "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino (; January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009) was a Filipino politician who served as the 11th president of the Philippines and the first woman president in the country, from Presidency of Corazon ...
. In 1993, Filemon Lagman and several cadre of the Manila-Rizal regional committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) broke away from the mainstream group, taking the Alex Boncayao Brigade with them. In a 1993 interview, Nilo dela Cruz stated that the organization had 100 members. He went on to explain that the group was striving to improve their knowledge of remote controlled explosives. He also mentioned that other than Leon's Red Scorpions, the military had not been able to capture a single Brigade member. Alfredo de Leon had broken away from the Brigade in 1991, and 14 Red Scorpion members were killed in 2002. In 1994, Lagman was arrested in
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, putting a damper on the brigade's activities. The ABB itself, headed by Nilo dela Cruz, would eventually split from Lagman in 1997 after an internal rift. Lagman would later give up the armed struggle and become a
labor union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
organizer. He was assassinated in 2000, allegedly by members of his former revolutionary group. Nilo dela Cruz, using the alias "Sergio Romero", was arrested that same year in
Bulacan Bulacan, officially the Province of Bulacan (; ; ; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon Regions of the Philippines, region. Its capital is the city of Malolos. Bulacan was established on ...
after crashing his car while being pursued by government intelligence agents. It would later be revealed that dela Cruz had allied the ABB with the Revolutionary Proletarian Army, forming the Revolutionary Proletarian Army – Alex Boncayao Brigade. This was not the first time dela Cruz had been arrested, or used an alias; in the 1970s he had been detained in the Youth Rehabilitation Center at Fort Bonifacio under the alias "Mario Saldaña". He had kept a low profile then and his true identity was never discovered. In 2003 it was reported that dela Cruz had "shifted from terrorist activities as leader of the ABB to organizing the labor forces of the Philippines into trade unions".


Activities

The Alex Boncayao Brigade is credited with the assassinations of nearly 200
police officer A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a Warrant (law), warranted law employee of a police, police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. ...
s from 1984 until 1993. In 1984, the ABB claimed responsibility for the assassination of Police General Tomas Karingal, Chief of the
Quezon City Quezon City (, ; ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read and pronounced in Filipino language, Filipino as Kyusi), is the richest and List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 c ...
Police Department. In 1989, they claimed responsibility for the assassination of
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
Colonel James N. Rowe, who was serving as an adviser to the
Philippine Army The Philippine Army (PA) () is the main, oldest and largest branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), responsible for ground warfare. , it had an estimated strength of 143,100 soldiers The service branch was established on December ...
. In 1996, the ABB also claimed responsibility for the assassination of
Philippine Constabulary The Philippine Constabulary (PC; , ''HPP''; ) was a gendarmerie-type military police force of the Philippines from 1901 to 1991, and the predecessor to the Philippine National Police. It was created by the Insular Government, American occupat ...
Lt. Col. Rolando Abadilla, a former chief of the Metrocom Intelligence and Security Group during the Marcos dictatorship. As proof of the deed, they turned over Abadilla's wristwatch to a Catholic priest, Fr. Robert Reyes. In 2000, the group claimed responsibility for attacks against the Department of Energy in Manila and Shell Oil offices in the central Philippines in protest against rising oil prices. Consequently, the US government added the ABB to its Patriot Act Terrorist Exclusion List in 2001. Terrorist incidents attributed to the Alex Boncayao Brigade in the Global Terrorism Database show that the majority of their acts are armed assault and assassinations. Their remaining acts are bombings, explosions and facility or infrastructure assault. During these acts, the ABB’s weapons of choice during much of the actions committed was that of the use of firearms and explosives. Throughout these activities, most of the group’s funds came from the “extortion and intimidation” of wealthy citizens and successful business owners. The group called these funds “revolutionary taxes” or “protection payments”.


Peace talks

In 2000, Nilo dela Cruz of the ABB and Arturo Tabara, leader of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army, announced their intention to engage in peace talks with the government of Joseph Estrada; this resulted in a truce with the Philippine Army. On December 6, 2000, a peace agreement was signed by the Republic of the Philippines and RPMP/RPA/ABB with the foundation of shared desire for a peaceful settlement of the armed conflict. This in turn prompted a vehement condemnation from Filemon Lagman; in a press release he branded Tabara and dela Cruz "scoundrels masquerading as revolutionaries". Due to the Brigade’s negotiations with the government, the New People’s Army allegedly targeted their former partner. In 2002, a “Clarification Document” was signed and agreed upon in response to the issues raised on the substance within the 2000 agreement. The agreement signed is the model used for the 2019 peace talks between the government and local CPPNPANDF wings.


In popular culture

The ABB was a popular subject to depict in Filipino films during the 1980s, and was often referred to as the Sparrow Unit. Some examples include '' Target: Sparrow Unit'' (1987), ''
Ambush An ambush is a surprise attack carried out by people lying in wait in a concealed position. The concealed position itself or the concealed person(s) may also be called an "". Ambushes as a basic military tactics, fighting tactic of soldi ...
'' (1988), '' Patrolman'' (1988), and '' Alex Boncayao Brigade'' (1989).


See also

* List of military units named after people


References

{{Communism in the Philippines Communist armed conflicts in the Philippines Defunct communist militant groups Far-left politics Guerrilla organizations Left-wing militant groups in the Philippines Maoist organizations Maoism in the Philippines Military history of the Philippines Military units and formations established in 1984 Military units and formations disestablished in 2000 Military wings of communist parties National Democratic Front of the Philippines Organizations designated as terrorist by the United States Organizations based in Asia designated as terrorist Rebel groups in the Philippines 1984 establishments in the Philippines 2000 disestablishments in the Philippines Urban warfare