AGGRESSIVE PHILIPPINE COMMUNIST ACTS BY THE

NEW PEOPLE’S ARMY

A research paper presented to the

School of Languages, Humanities and Social Sciences
Mapua University
Makati City, Philippines

In Partial Fulfillment
Of the requirements for the subject
PHILIPPINE HISTORY

MEMBERS:
CABAMONGAN , EZEKIEL
LOSABIA, JOSEPH

JULY 2019
TABLE OF CONTENTS:

I – INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the study

B. Statement of the problem

C. Objectives of the study

D. Scope and Delimitation

E. Definition of terms

II – REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

A. Foreign Literature and studies

B. Local literature and studies

III - DISCUSSION

A. The Philippine Case

B. The Thailand Case

C. Comparison

IV – CONCLUSIONS

V – REFERENCES
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY:

Communism is a very old form of ideology focusing on class warfare of the rich V the

poor. Communism is popular amongst oppressed citizens of a country. One such country

(where it can be said what popularized it) is Imperial Russia under the rule of Czar Nicholas II.

Czar Nicholas’ opulence was extravagant whilst the people of Russia would suffer. The country

is slowly dying while czar Nicholas was in power. Many groups of socialists began to rebel

against czar Nicholas, leading to his abdication. It did not end there however as many of the

socialist groups erupted in a civil war against each other. Ultimately, The Bolsheviks would win

and reformed as the communist party.

Various countries such as Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan etc. would form the Union of

Soviet Socialist Republics (better known as the Soviet Union) around the world various nations

that had millions of disenfranchised citizens would revolt against oppressive governments, one

such was china and eventually china would become a communist state also. Soon after, the

United States of America would oppose Russia and china promoting democracy as an

alternative to communism. Soon the 3 countries would scatter to gather allies. Creating “proxy

wars”. One such country was the Philippines and the declaration of the Philippine communist

Party, but democracy would win in the Philippines.

In the original form of the NPA (or New People’s Army) it was originally called The

Philippine Communist Party but internal struggle with younger, more educated members of the

PKP against the older established members of the PKP. Eventually, the Philippine Communist

party would be turned into the New People’s Army. In the past, the NPA has been conducting

guerilla Warfare against the Philippine Army and by extension also attacking local police forces.

These attacks are usually carried upon via ambush attacks (such as the NPA ambush on April

23, 2019 killing 6 Soldiers and wounding 6 others) and directly attacking a police station but

ultimately failed in attacking the police station. Previous administrations have varied in their
treatment of the New People’s Army. Some administrations would like to treat the NPA as

nothing but ideological terrorist and some would consider them as the group that understands

the working man’s struggle.

In 2018, President Duterte announced to the Philippine army to effectively eliminate all

NPA soldiers souring any diplomatic solutions whilst other presidents such as President Ramos

declared a policy of amnesty to members of the NPA and even lead to actual peace talks and

negotiations. But various actions of NPA members during said peace talks would stale

negotiations to a stand still and eventually lead back to zero. The aim of this study is to realize

what really is the stance of the government on the New people’s Army and any of their actions

would be considered in the goals of communism.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

The NPA have been long considered ideological terrorist, with nothing but the goal to

destroy the Philippine government. Various administrations of the Philippines would like to

consider them as allies who should be understood but in previous events, the NPA would carry

out attacks upon the army and various government bodies halting any and all negotiations and

further fueling the idea that the NPA are nothing but ideological terrorists and as shown, some

administrations do consider them as terrorist. In this research, the goal would be to understand

what the stance of the Philippine government is on the New People’s Army.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

The researcher’s goal is to prove that the Philippine government has made strides in

strengthening diplomatic relations with not only the New People’s Army but with other Insurgent

groups as well. The general idea of the researchers is that the NPA has made many decisions

that led to hurting any diplomatic progress that was made (stretching back to the founding of the

NPA and towards the future)

SCOPE AND DELIMITATION:

The general scope of the research is to review previous administrations treatment of the

NPA and how the NPA has treated the government. The researchers are narrowed down to

other insurgent groups that have a diplomatic representative. Meaning, extremist terrorist

groups (such as the Abu Sayyaf) are not included in this research as they do not have any

diplomatic relations to the government.

The delimitation that the researchers have set is to again limit their study on the NPA

and other insurgent groups that have diplomatic representatives. Extreme insurgent groups

such as the Abu Sayyaf and ISIS groups are to be excluded.

DEFINITION OF TERMS:

INSURGENCY

A group that openly opposes a government. A rebellion.

ABU SAYYAF

Abu Sayyaf, unofficially known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Philippines

Province, is a Jihadist militant and pirate group that follows the Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam.

NEW PEOPLE’S ARMY

The New People's Army is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines. It

was formed and founded by Jose Maria Sison, Bernabe Buscayno, and Lucio Manlapaz on 29

March 1969. The Maoist NPA conducts its armed guerrilla struggle based on the strategical line

of protracted people's war.

COMMUNISM

In political and social sciences, communism (from Latin communis, "common,

universal")is the philosophical, social, political, and economic ideology and movement whose

ultimate goal is the establishment of the communist society, which is a socioeconomic order

structured upon the common ownership of the means of production and the absence of social

classes, money, and the state.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES:

FOREIGN LITERATURE AND STUDIES:

Various studies from foreign literatures / Studies have one common point: That the NPA

have attacked Government personnel in a huge span of time. On a study made by HOLDEN,

WILLIAM titled “The Never-Ending War in the Wounded Land: The New People’s Army on

Samar” have made the claim that the National People’s Army have openly attacked the AFP (the

Army branch of the Philippines better known as the Armed Forces Of The Philippines) and pray

on the disenfranchised to swell their ranks.

In another journal by the Stanford university titled “Mapping militant organizations:

Communist Party of the Philippines–New People's Army” which documented various activities

that the NPA has been performing ever since it’s first attack on August 21, 1971. It has stated

that the NPA prey on – again – the disenfranchised as they view that communism is a form of

way to get out of poverty.

LOCAL LITERATURE AND STUDIES:

In an article made by the GMA network (a major national commercial broadcast

television and radio network in the Philippines.) titled “TIMELINE: The peace talks between the

government and the CPP-NPA-NDF, 1986 – present” the article states that on many occasions,

the government has made strides to improve relations with the new people’s army but some

members do not believe that talking to the Philippine government would do anything, and

various attacks would be carried out in a span of 40 years, straining any form of diplomatic talks.
DISCUSSION:

THE PHILIPPINE CASE:

Communism (as stated in the beginning of the paper) is a very old ideology having its

roots in the old empire of Russia (when it was ruled by czars – specifically Czar Nicholas II)

Opulent lifestyles have reduced the Russian empire to various factions rebelling against the

empire but only one would overthrow and win against the other factions – the Bolsheviks.

Eventually, they would become what is known as the USSR.

Attracting disenfranchised citizens, communism would spread to 3 rd world countries and

one such country would be the Philippines. Eventually the Communist party of the Philippines

would be born and would establish its left-wing military organization known as The New

People’s Army. (Or NPA for Short). The NPA would attract disenfranchised citizens and citizens

not even disenfranchised but believe that the government did not have the best interest of the

entire nation. Over a span of 40 years, a myriad of brutal and merciless attacks. A proper case

can be made that in the past 40 years, the government has made various attempts to have

peace talks with the NPA (and some would be successful) but any progress would be lost as

some members of the NPA would carry out even more attacks, souring opinions of local

citizens, souring peace talks and the NPA would loose any traction / influence they have.

A very notable move made by former president Ramos would be to grant amnesty to

members of the NPA if they would come forward. This plan would be successful but talks and

this amnesty program would go sour as members of the NPA would still carry out attacks

against AFP personnel and even local citizens. (such as in February 1999 where 4 military

officers are abducted by the NPA) souring again any peace talks.
THE THAILAND CASE:

Thailand was in same case of the Philippines – a communist insurgency growing in its

own backyard. With the same ideals as the communist party of the Philippines. The communist

party of Thailand wouldn’t last long however, as in the 1980’s, the government of Thailand

presented an amnesty program that encouraged members to defect.

THE COMPARISON:

As the Thailand government made the same strides as the Philippine government, the

Thailand government and the willingness of the Communist party of Thailand, massive defects

and amnesty were granted to ex-members of the CPT.

The Philippines did try to introduce amnesty programs to members of the NPA, but the

NPA was fractured, many splinter factions exists within the NPA and the high command did

intend to have formal peace talks with the government, the actions of these splinter factions

would sour any form of peace talks. But treatment of administrations have varied from

administration to administration.

CONCLUSION:

In conclusion, it would be fair to assume that the Philippines has made many strides to

attain peace with the communist party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army. However,

actions throughout the years have proven that the New People’s Army has a “back and forth”

attitude towards peace talks and various splinter factions within the NPA have thwarted any

plans of peace talks.

REFERENCES:

FOREIGN BOOKS:

Stanford (2015). Communist Party of the Philippines–New People's Army, Retrieved from

https://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/view/149

Chapman, W. (1987). Inside the Philippine Revolution: The New People's Army and Its

Struggle,

Retrievedfromhttps://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/2521000.Inside_the_Philippine_Revol

ution

Kerkvliet, B. (1977) The Huk Rebellion. A Study of Peasant Revolt in the Philippines. Retrieved

from https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/modern-asian-studies/article/huk-rebellion-a-

study-of-peasant-revolt-in-the-philippines-by-benedict-j-kerkvliet-university-of-california-press-

berkeley-los-angeles-london-1977-pp-xvii-301200/6CD48B6B7C6A3FBF3930B9A75EBDC9BC

Fuller, K. (2011) A Movement Divided: Philippine Communism, 1957-1986. Retrieved from

https://policies.oclc.org/en/privacy/cookie-statement.html

Jones, G. (2019) Red Revolution: Inside the Philippine Guerrilla Movement. Retrieved from

https://www.crcpress.com/Red-Revolution-Inside-The-Philippine-Guerrilla-

Movement/Jones/p/book/9780367285289
Richardson, J. (2011) Komunista the genesis of the Philippine Communist Party, 1902-1935.

Retrieved from https://www.worldcat.org/title/komunista-the-genesis-of-the-philippine-

communist-party-1902-1935/oclc/930761729?referer=di&ht=edition

JOURNAL ARTICLES:

http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jgg/article/view/29563

https://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/view/149

https://www.refworld.org/docid/5981e3e34.html

https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bcf1f4d4.html

https://www.encyclopedia.com/politics/legal-and-political-magazines/new-peoples-army-npa

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00472337785390521

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/specialreports/634324/timeline-the-peace-talks-

between-the-government-and-the-cpp-npa-ndf-1986-present/story/

https://www.rbth.com/arts/2016/12/19/why-the-ussr-backed-thailand-in-its-fight-against-

communist-insurgents_661844

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Communist-Party-of-Thailand
STUDIES / DISERTATIONS:

https://calhoun.nps.edu/handle/10945/30553

http://www.ndcp.edu.ph/index.php/library/thesis-1908/

https://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/explaining-the-sustainability-of-the-communist-party-of-the-

philippines-new-people%E2%80%99s-army