An Analysis Of The Communist Insurgency In The Philippines

Book excerpt: The Maoist-inspired Communist Party of the Philippines celebrated its 37th anniversary on December 2005. It marks a long history of violence, terror, and instability in the archipelagic country of 87 million people, causing thousands of casualties among government troops, insurgents, and including civilians. This study seeks to find a lasting solution that will finally bring to a close the final chapter to insurgency in the country. It was approached from a historical point of view by studying the events that lead to the birth of the movement in 1932 until its defeat in 1954. A new chapter of the Maoist insurgency started in 1969 and this movement emerged into a formidable guerrilla force that became the primary threat to the nation’s security. This paper tries to analyze how that insurgency persisted to challenge the government this far and what went wrong with the government’s response. It will attempt to answer the primary question: How to defeat the communist insurgency?