The New People's Army is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). It acts as the CPP's principal organization, aiming to consolidate political power from what it sees as the present "bourgeois reactionary puppet government" and to aid in the "people's democratic revolution". Founded on March 29, 1969, by the collaboration of Jose Maria Sison and former members of the Hukbalahap led by Bernabe Buscayno, the NPA has since waged a guerrilla war based on the Maoist strategy of protracted people's war. The NPA is one of the key figures in the ongoing communist rebellion in the Philippines, the longest ongoing conflict in the country.
The Communist Party of the Philippines is a far-left, Marxist–Leninist–Maoist revolutionary organization and communist party in the Philippines, formed by Jose Maria Sison on 26 December 1968.
Jose Maria Canlas Sison, also known as Joma, was a Filipino writer, poet, and activist who founded and led the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and added elements of Maoism to its philosophy—which would be known as National Democracy. His ideology was formed by applying Marxism–Leninism–Maoism to the history and circumstances of the Philippines.
Filemon Castelar Lagman, popularly known as Ka Popoy, was a revolutionary socialist and workers' leader in the Philippines who supported Marxism-Leninism. He split with the Communist Party of the Philippines in 1991 due to ideological disagreements to form the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP). He was assassinated in 2001.
The Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas-1930 (PKP-1930), also known as the Philippine Communist Party, is a communist party in the Philippines that was established on November 7, 1930. It uses the aforementioned appellation in order to distinguish itself from its better known splinter group, the Communist Party of the Philippines.
The New People's Army rebellion is an ongoing conflict between the government of the Philippines and the New People's Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Marxist–Leninist–Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). It is the most prominent communist armed conflict in the Philippines, with more than 43,000 insurgency-related fatalities between 1969 and 2008. It is also one of the longest ongoing communist insurgencies in the world.
The history of communist armed conflicts in the Philippines is closely related to the history of communism in the Philippines, with various armed conflict linked to the armed wings of the various communist organizations that have evolved since 1930. The two largest conflicts have been the Hukbalahap rebellion of 1942–1954, and the ongoing rebellion of the New People's Army, which began in 1969 under the auspices of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). But various splinter groups have since separated from the CPP and have had a history of armed conflict with the Philippine government since then.
Communism in the Philippines emerged in the first half of the 20th century during the American colonial era of the Philippines. Communist movements originated in labor unions and peasant groups. The communist movement has had multiple periods of popularity and relevance to the national affairs of the country, most notably during the Second World War and the Martial Law Era of the Philippines. Currently, the communist movement is weaker, and considered an insurgent movement by the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
The First Great Rectification Movement refers to a 1965 ideological movement by Filipino communists led by Jose Maria Sison wherein they "criticized, repudiated and rectified the major ideological, political and organizational errors and weaknesses" of the 1930s-era Communist Party of the Philippines. This rectification movement led to the reestablishment of the Communist Party of the Philippines on December 26, 1968 along Marxist–Leninist–Maoist Thought.
The Second Great Rectification Movement refers to a 1992 ideological campaign initiated by the leadership of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) wherein an effort was made to "identify, repudiate and rectify the errors of urban insurrectionism, premature big formations of the New People's Army and anti-infiltration hysteria". The rectification movement resulted in the once monolithic Filipino communist party fragmenting into at least eight warring factions during the 1990s.
Benito Tiamzon was a Filipino political organizer and until his arrest in March 2014 by Philippine security forces, was believed to be the Chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA).
Wilma Tiamzon was a Filipino political organizer and until her arrest in March 2014 by Philippine security forces, believed to be the Secretary-General of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA).
The Southern Tagalog 10 was a group of activists abducted and "disappeared" in 1977 during martial law in the Philippines under Proclamation No. 1081 issued by President Ferdinand E. Marcos. Of the 10 university students and professors who were abducted, only three, Virgilio Silva, Salvador Panganiban, and Modesto Sison, "surfaced" later after being killed by suspected agents of the state. Two of those who surfaced were apparently summarily executed. The rest were never found.
In the Philippines, red-tagging is the labeling of individuals or organizations as communists, subversives, or terrorists, regardless of their actual political beliefs or affiliations. It is a type of harassment and has pernicious effects on its targets. Red-tagging has been practiced by security forces, government officials and shills.
Fidel V. Agcaoili, also known as Ka Fidel, was a Filipino activist and revolutionary. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines' Central Committee, along with Jose Maria Sison and Luis Jalandoni during the Marcos dictatorship. In 1974, he was arrested and became the longest detained political prisoner under Marcos, being imprisoned for 11 years. On his release, Agcaoili founded the Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainee Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA), a prisoners' rights organization.
Antonio De Leon Zumel II, also known by his nicknames Tony, Manong, Ching and Antumel, was a Filipino journalist, activist, and leftist revolutionary. He was two-time President of the National Press Club of the Philippines before going underground in 1972 at the start of the Marcos dictatorship. In 1990, he was elected Chairperson of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines in absentia, and was a senior adviser to the NDFP negotiating panel from 1994 until his death in 2001.
Antonio Sandoval Tagamolila was a Filipino activist, student journalist, and revolutionary who was active during the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos. He was the editor-in-chief of The Philippine Collegian and the president of the College Editors' Guild of the Philippines in 1971, as well as a member of Kabataang Makabayan. After the imposition of Martial law in 1972, Tagamolila joined the New People's Army. He was killed on February 18, 1975, in an encounter.
Philippine Society and Revolution, first published in 1971, is a book written by Filipino Maoist revolutionary and founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines Jose Maria Sison, under his nom de guerre Amado Guerrero. Regarded as one of the CPP's principal references, PSR has also influenced the Filipino mass movement since its first publication. It applied Maoist analysis to contemporary Filipino society, describing its class structure, its basic problems, and the "class logic of the revolutionary solution — which is the people's democratic revolution."
The July 1972 MV Karagatan incident was an unsuccessful attempt by the New People's Army — the armed wing of the Marxist–Leninist–Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) — to smuggle armaments from China into the Philippines via the ship MV Karagatan. The incident is notable for having been cited by President Ferdinand Marcos as one of his rationales for imposing martial law in the Philippines in September 1972.
