The history of communist armed conflicts in the Philippines is closely related to the history of

Communism in the Philippines Communism in the Philippines emerged in the first half of the 20th century during the American colonial era of the Philippines. Communism, Communist movements originated in labor unions and peasant groups. The communist movement has had multip ...

, with various armed conflict linked to the armed wings of the various communist organizations that have evolved since 1930. The two largest conflicts have been the

Hukbalahap Rebellion The Hukbalahap rebellion was a rebellion staged in the Philippines by former Hukbalahap or ''Hukbong Bayan Laban sa Hapon'' () soldiers against the Philippine government. It started in 1946 after the independence of the Philippines from the Unit ...

of 1942–1954, and the ongoing rebellion 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 ...

, which began in 1969 under the auspices of the

Communist Party of the Philippines The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP; ) is a far-left, Marxist–Leninist–Maoist revolutionary organization and communist party in the Philippines, formed by Jose Maria Sison on 26 December 1968. The CPP has been fighting a gue ...

(CPP). But various splinter groups have since separated from the CPP and have had a history of armed conflict with the Philippine government since then. The Hukbalahap Rebellion was initiated by the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas of 1930 (PKP-1930) and its armed group the Hukbalahap (HMB) (''Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan,'' or "People's Liberation Army"). They went into decline in the early 1950s and was finally put down through a series of reforms and military victories which led to the 1954 surrender of its leader

Luis Taruc Luis Mangalus Taruc (; June 21, 1913 – May 4, 2005) was a Filipino people, Filipino political figure and rebel during the agrarian unrest of the 1930s until the end of the Cold War. He was the leader of the Hukbalahap group (from ''Hukbong B ...

. The armed conflict of the New People's Army against the Philippine government can be traced back to March 29, 1969, when Jose Maria Sison's newly formed CPP entered an alliance with a small armed group led by

Bernabe Buscayno Bernabe Buscayno, also called Kumander Dante, is the founder of the New People's Army, the military wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines. Early life Bernabe Buscayno was one of eight children born to impoverished tenant farmers und ...

. But the conflict was still in its infancy in 1972 when

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 ...

proclaimed

Martial law Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...

. The declaration and the resulting

human rights abuses Human rights are universally recognized moral principles or norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both national and international laws. These rights are considered inherent and inalienable, meaning t ...

led to the radicalization of even the moderate opposition against Marcos, significantly swelling the ranks of the New People's Army. Major splits away from the Communist Party of the Philippines occurred in 1992 and 1996. A month after Marcos was ousted through the broad-based nonviolent

People Power Revolution The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution or the February Revolution, were a series of popular Demonstration (people), demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February 22 to 25, 1986. There was a ...

of February 1986, the unit led by

Conrado Balweg Conrado Balweg (December 29, 1942 – December 31, 1999) was a former Filipino Catholic priest and rebel who was the founder of the Cordillera People's Liberation Army, a militant group which advocated autonomy for the Cordillera region in th ...

formed a splinter group known as the

Cordillera People's Liberation Army The Cordillera People's Liberation Army (CPLA) was a militant organization based in the Cordillera region in the Philippines founded by Conrado Balweg. Background In 1979, the Itneg Catholic priest Conrado Balweg decided to join the New Peo ...

, whose conflict with the Philippine government formally ended with the closure of peace talks in 2011. 1992 saw what the CPP refers to as the Second Great Rectification Movement, an effort whose stated intent was to "identify, repudiate and rectify the errors of urban insurrectionism, premature big formations of the

and anti- infiltration hysteria". This resulted in the once monolithic Filipino communist party fragmenting into at least 13 factions during the 1990s, the most notable being: the alliance that was the Revolutionary Workers' Party (RPM-P), the

Revolutionary Proletarian Army The Revolutionary Proletarian Army, also known by the acronym RPA, was the military wing of the Revolutionary Workers' Party (Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawà ng Pilipinas) (RPM-P), a communist party that split from the Communist Party ...

(RPA), and the

Alex Boncayao Brigade The Alex Boncayao Brigade (abbreviated as ABB; also known as the SPARU Unit) was the urban assassination unit of the New People's Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines. Organized in 1984, the unit broke away from the Ne ...

(ABB); the Revolutionary People's Army – Mindanao (RPA-M), and the Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan (RHB, Revolutionary People's Army) of the Marxist-Leninist Party of the Philippines (MLPP).

Hukbalahap rebellion (1942–1954)

The Hukbalahap Rebellion began in 1942 when the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas of 1930 (PKP-1930) formed an armed group called the ''Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa Hapon'' (People's Army against the Japanese) to fight against the

Japanese occupation of the Philippines The Japanese occupation of the Philippines (Filipino language, Filipino: ''Pananakop ng mga Hapones sa Pilipinas''; ) occurred between 1942 and 1945, when the Empire of Japan, Japanese Empire occupied the Commonwealth of the Philippines during Wo ...

during World War II. At the end of the war in 1946, the PKP-1930 reconstituted the Hukbalahap as the ''Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan'' ("Peoples' Liberation Army"), transforming it into the party's armed wing. This conflict ended in 1954 under the presidency of

Ramon Magsaysay Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay Sr. (August 31, 1907 – March 17, 1957) was a Filipino statesman who served as the seventh President of the Philippines, from December 30, 1953, until his death in an 1957 Cebu Douglas C-47 crash, aircraft disast ...

New People's Army rebellion (1969–present)

The ongoing rebellion of the

began in 1969 under the auspices of the

(CPP), which had been formed the previous year. This conflict was still in its infancy in 1972 when

proclaimed

, but expanded significantly as even the moderate opposition against Marcos was radicalized. The Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP), then allied with

, was responsible for killing more communists than the Marcos government itself due to a growing youth faction within the party called the Marxist-Leninist Group (MLG) opposing Marcos' imposition of martial law nationwide and attempting to splinter from the PKP. The CPP went through a series of setbacks and internal conflicts after the ouster of Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, including the breaking away of the

of former priest

. CPP co-founder Jose Maria Sison went into exile in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in 1987 while Benito Tiamzon reportedly became the leader of the party upon successively acquiring the positions of chairman and secretary general in 1986 and 1987 respectively. In 1992 the CPP went through what it calls the Second Great Rectification Movement, whose stated intent was to "identify, repudiate and rectify the errors of urban insurrectionism, premature big formations of the

and anti- infiltration hysteria". This resulted in the split of the party into "Re-affirmist" and "Rejectionist" groups, resulting in the formation of at least 13 factions during the 1990s.

Cordillera People's Liberation Army conflict (February–September 1986)

A month after Marcos was ousted through the broad-based nonviolent

of February 1986, the unit led by former priest

broke away from the New People's Army, accusing the latter of incompetence in pursuing its goals. Balweg's splinter group became known as the

(CPLA). The formation of the CPLA also saw the merger of the Tingguian Liberation Force, a splinter group from NPA Abra to form the Cordillera organization. Their stated goal was to fight for the

self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...

of the people of Cordillera. The group began peace talks with the Philippine government later that year, and on September 13, 1986, the CPLA and the

Government of the Philippines The government of the Philippines () has three interdependent branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The Philippines is Central government, governed as a unitary state under a presidential system, presidential representativ ...

made a "''sipat''" (

ceasefire A ceasefire (also known as a truce), also spelled cease-fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions often due to mediation by a third party. Ceasefires may b ...

) at Mt. Data Hotel, in Bauko,

Mountain Province Mountain Province (; ; ; ; ; ) is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is Bontoc while Bauko is the largest municipality. Mountain Province was formerly referred to as Mountain ...

. The agreement between the two entities was called the 1986 Mount Data Peace Accord. The conflict formally ended with the closure of peace talks in 2011.

1992 Re-Affirmist/Rejectionist split

In 1992, main body of the CPP split into two factions: the reaffirmist faction led by Sison and the rejectionist faction which advocated the formation of larger military units and urban insurgencies. Several smaller factions emerged from the group, the most notable being the RPM/P- RPA-

ABB ABB Group is a Swedish-Swiss multinational electrical engineering corporation. Incorporated in Switzerland as ABB Ltd., and headquartered in Zurich, it is dual-listed on the Nasdaq Nordic exchange in Stockholm, Sweden, and the SIX Swiss Excha ...

; the MLPP-RHB, and the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa Mindanao ( Revolutionary Worker's Party - Mindanao - Revolutionary Peoples' Army, RWP-M/RPA, sometimes also RPA-M). The split resulted in a weakening of the CPP-NPA, but it gradually grew again after the breakdown of peace talks in 1999, the unpopularity of the Estrada administration, and because of social pressures arising from the

Asian Financial Crisis The 1997 Asian financial crisis gripped much of East and Southeast Asia during the late 1990s. The crisis began in Thailand in July 1997 before spreading to several other countries with a ripple effect, raising fears of a worldwide economic meltd ...

that year.

Revolutionary Proletarian Army – Alex Boncayao Brigade conflict (1996–2000)

Due to the ideological split known as the Second Great Rectification Movement, the

Negros Negros (, , ) is the fourth largest and third most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of . The coastal zone of the southern part of Negros is identified as a site of highest marine biodiversity importance in the Coral Tr ...

Regional Party Committee of the

broke away from the

in 1996 and formed the '' Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawà ng Pilipinas'' ("Revolutionary Workers' Party of the Philippines"). It organized its military arm two months after the split, calling it the

. The

Metro Manila Metropolitan Manila ( ), commonly shortened to Metro Manila and formally the National Capital Region (NCR; ), is the capital region and largest List of metropolitan areas in the Philippines, metropolitan area of the Philippines. Located ...

-based 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

, known as the

(ABB; also known as the Sparrow Unit), also broke away from the New People's Army, and allied itself with the RPM-P and RPA in 1997. In 1999, the group began peace negotiations with the government, leading to a peace deal which was signed in 2000.

Marxist–Leninist Party of the Philippines armed conflict (1998–present)

In 1998, a group which operates mainly in

Central Luzon Central Luzon (; ; ; ; ), designated as Region III, is an administrative region in the Philippines. The region comprises seven provinces: Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga (with its capital, San Fernando City serving as the re ...

broke away from the Communist Party of the Philippines, taking up a Marxist-Leninist ideology instead of the CPP's Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. This became the Marxist–Leninist Party of the Philippines which soon initiated conflict with the Philippine government through its armed wing, the Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan (RHB). The conflict is still ongoing, although incidents covered in the media focus more on incidents arising from the rivalry between RHB and NPA.

Revolutionary Workers’ Party in Mindanao (2000–ongoing peace talks)

Breaking away from the Communist Party of the Philippines during the 1992 split, the group which called itself the CMR (Central Mindanao Region) Rejectionist Group initially joined other rejectionist factions from elsewhere in the country. During peace negotiations with the Estrada administration, however, they split from the other groups and formed the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa sa Mindanao (RPM-M, ''lit.'' Revolutionary Workers’ Party in Mindanao). The group quietly began peace negotiations with the Philippine Government in 2003.

References

{{Post-Cold War Asian conflicts 20th-century conflicts 21st-century conflicts Military history of the Philippines History of the Philippines (1965–1986) History of the Philippines (1986–present) Wars involving the Philippines Proxy wars