Word: huks
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Luis Taruc, for eight years the head of the bloody Communist Huk revolt in the Philippine hills, strode into Manila's packed City Hall last week to be tried for rebellion and a string of other crimes including arson, murder, kidnaping and robbery. The defense asked the court to drop seven of the 30 counts against him on the ground that a 1948 presidential amnesty absolved these crimes. The prosecution agreed, even though the seventh count-involving the ambush murder of Aurora Quezon, widow of the onetime President-was committed a full year after the amnesty had been granted...
Whether this doubletalk meant that Taruc was a changed (though unrepentant) man or was simply proclaiming a new tactical retreat of the party was hard to determine from his speech. The one-time Huk leader never once referred to his surrender (TIME, May 24), instead preferred to say that he "came down" to Manila. It was plain that the Magsaysay government was happy to have him in its hands instead of on its hands : the campaign against the Huk hideouts is going well, but is also costly...
...Surrender by stages of all the Huk forces and their arms...
...President would not budge from these terms. Nor did he need to. The Philippine army, reinvigorated since Magsaysay took over, was scoring fresh victories. The dry season was setting in, allowing the troops to penetrate to the deepest Huk lairs, particularly the Candaba swamp which was Taruc's favorite refuge. A turning point had been reached: there were solid indications that the antirebel drive was sapping the morale as well as the armed strength of the hard-pressed enemy...
...Romeo, I met Taruc a second time. He was greatly disappointed at the President's refusal to meet him, but he was careful not to reject our terms outright. Instead, he made a counterproposal: a "cease-fire," with all military operations frozen while he consulted his Huk advisers. I told Taruc that President Magsaysay would never agree to a "cease-fire," which would simply take pressure off the guerrillas. Negotiations bogged down...