Word: huks
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...rather smugly that in the Philippines, where U.S. power, U.S. wealth and U.S. good will had been working for years, things are different. Recently they have discovered that the difference is not so big as they thought. The Philippines are torn by the chronic rebellion of the Communist-led Huks. The majority of the Philippine people have only the vaguest idea of what Communism is. The fact is that the West has failed to bring millions of Filipinos an order under which they can lead reasonably secure lives. LIFE Editor John Osborne has been touring Central and South Luzon, heartland...
...first thing to be learned about the Huk rebellion is that there are no facts, American style. How many Huks are there, and how are they doing? One of the few "facts" to be stated with some certainty is that the authorities do not know. They will tell you that there are 12,000 to 14,000 armed Huks on "The Outside," as the shadowy world of the guerrillas is called here, and that since the government launched its new campaign against them in April, the Huk organization, has been mortally hurt. But this estimate is just a guess...
Lately this situation has improved a little, as the Philippine army ground forces have gradually taken over the campaign from the mistrusted, abusive Philippine constabulary. If this trend continues, the Huks will be finished, for they cannot live without the aid-voluntary or forced-of the people in the countryside. In this sense, the Huk war is a struggle for the confidence of thousands of peasants and rural workers who in their underpaid, underprivileged past have never been given much reason for confidence. Who is winning this struggle now? Maybe a certain Colonel Abay knows a little of the answer...
...last March the Huks went on a village-raiding spree which cost them some of their popular support (TIME, April 10). Said Ronnie Dorsey: "The people began to tell on us ... and soon we found we couldn't go down to the villages without being exposed." In April the Philippine army took charge of the government's anti-Huk campaign. Since then, according to Dorsey's account, the Huks have been constantly on the run.* Sometimes the rebels were without food and water. "The officers got the gravy while the men killed one another over...
Colonel to Private. Two weeks ago Ronnie Dorsey and Benjamin Advincula lit out again, this time to surrender. To Philippine army intelligence, Ronnie gave a roster of the men and officers in his Huk group, tips on the location of Huk hideouts. In Dorsey's testimony that the Huks' troubles were increasing, the harassed government of President Elpidio Quirino saw excellent propaganda for use against its critics...