WhereIsAtlas · Insurgency

Hukbalahap & the NPA

The two great Philippine insurgencies — from anti-Japanese guerrillas to Maoist revolutionaries

Concluded — Two Philippine insurgencies: the WW2-era Hukbalahap and the Marcos-era New People's Army (NPA).

The Hukbalahap — short for the 'Anti-Japanese People's Army' — was a guerrilla movement that rose in the Philippines during World War II, fighting the Japanese occupation. Drawing its strength from peasant communities in Central Luzon, it combined the war against Japan with a deep agrarian grievance: the struggle for land and against the landlord system that dominated the countryside.

After 1945 the Hubs refused to disband, and the movement transformed into an insurgency against the postwar republic, particularly in the 1940s and 50s. The Philippine government and the United States, fearing a communist uprising, crushed the rebellion with a mix of reform and counterinsurgency, and by the mid-1950s the Huk movement had effectively collapsed. Its leaders — including Luis Taruc — surrendered, and the movement's base was dispersed.

Two decades later the communist insurgency was reborn. In 1969, a small group of radicalized leaders founded the New People's Army (NPA), the armed wing of the re-established Communist Party of the Philippines. Channeling the same Huk-era grievance about land, poverty and inequality, the NPA grew into one of the largest and longest-lasting insurgencies in the world, fighting the government throughout the Marcos dictatorship and beyond — a conflict that continues, in diminished form, into the present.

Timeline

1942 — Hukbalahap forms: Peasant guerrillas rise to fight the Japanese occupation in Central Luzon. (Central Luzon)
1945-50s — The Huk insurgency: After WWII the Hubs turn against the postwar republic; the government and US crush them.
1969 — The NPA is born: The New People's Army is founded as the Maoist armed wing of the CPP.
1970s-80s — The NPA's peak: The NPA grows into a nationwide insurgency, strongest under the Marcos dictatorship.
Today — A diminished conflict: The NPA, much reduced, continues as a long-running rural insurgency.

Quick facts

Hukbalahap: 1942 (anti-Japanese guerrilla)
Huk collapse: 1950s (defeated by reform + force)
NPA founded: 1969
NPA ideology: Maoist, CPP-aligned
Root grievance: Land and peasant poverty

Sources

Hukbalahap - Wikipedia — Wikipedia (2026-02-15)
New People's Army - Wikipedia — Wikipedia (2026-02-15)
Philippines: A history of insurgency — BBC News (2026-02-15)