Word: huks
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Thus Manila had reason for satisfaction last month when government forces killed 21 Huks in two bloody shoot-outs in Luzon. The paramilitary Philippine Constabulary had eliminated four guerrilla commanders, including the third-ranking man in the Huk hierarchy, Efren Lopez, who went by the nom de guerre of Commander Freddie. The action apparently resulted in part from factional division and rivalry among the insurgents. Government forces had trapped Freddie and his men on a tip-off -and that tip-off had evidently come from Commander Sumulong, who ranks directly below Huk Supremo Pedro Taruc. Sumulong had apparently felt challenged...
General Raval dismissed the ambushes as Huk attempts to "salvage what is left of their prestige." But a junior officer was less optimistic. "Nobody in uniform is safe in Central Luzon until the Huks get their pound of flesh," he said. "And they'll get it, sooner or later." They probably will-considering that the government has promised much and done little. Huk strength is still estimated at around 300 armed men, which does not sound impressive-but they are supported by thousands of sympathetic or frightened peasants...
...Huks have set up their own courts, which are the law of the land in broad stretches of central Luzon. Huk justice is swift and decisive: cattle thieves and rapists, for example, are often executed on the spot. Huk agents exact tribute and taxes from thousands of Filipinos. The biggest collection center is Angeles City near the U.S. Air Force's Clark Field. Maids for American families must pay five pesos ($1.25) monthly to the Huks; Huk treasurers take a big rake-off from the gambling parlors and bars frequented by U.S. troops...
Influence & Power. The Huk aim is simple: to eradicate U.S. influence in the islands and set up a Communist-style "people's democracy." Remembering their earlier mistakes, the Huks no longer call for instant revolution but aim instead at a gradual subversion of the country's political system. That work is carried on by an estimated 1,500 so-called "legal cadres," members who carefully skirt the law forbidding Communism in the Philippines. Many of them openly strive to win positions of power. According to Filipino intelligence estimates, at least 176 barrio captains, dozens of mayors, a handful...
Hopelessly Poor. Trying his best to contain the Huk threat, Marcos has launched in central Luzon a civic-action program that has built 178 new schools, dug dozens of wells and irrigation ditches and paved dirt roads. But the area is so hopelessly poor that his efforts have made little impact. The President's fear is that the Huk movement will spread to other impoverished areas before he can stamp it out in Luzon. "The battle can start any time," says Marcos. "If I must end my political career going after the Communists, I wouldn't mind...