POLICE RENEW OPERATIONS AGAINST PHILIPPINE REBELS

Created: 1/10/1969

OCR scan of the original document, errors are possible

Police Renew Operations Against Philippine Rebels

increase in Hukin central Luzon has caused President Marcos to order the Philippine Constabulary back into the field once again.

According to intercepted communications, theparamilitary nationalanuary. Marcos had pulled the constabulary off its previous anti-Huk drive in early November, explaining at that time that intensified civicwould be used to correct the social and economic ills that gave the Huks their base,

Marcos1 critics,both the ability of local police to maintain order and the government's seriousness about rural reform, attacked the switch to civic action es anpolitical ploy. Marcos, look ing toward the presidentialnext November, may have calculated on gaining support from Huk-influenced politicians by easing police pressure on the rebels.

The Huks, however, areled by less-experienced and less-disciplined squad leaders because of the constabulary's success inozenHuk leaders in the past year. These new leaders are not as responsive to the Huk field chiefs' authority and lack the finesse of their in intimidating the local officials and populace.

onsequence, they haveincreasingly tosince last autumn.

The Huks apparently were also encouraged by thein Septej*erfan constabulary inLuzon to the southwest Philippines in connection with tensions over Sabah and by Mar-cos's pulling the remainingback to their camps in November.

The historic connections of the Huks with the Communists have dissipated as their present-day emphasis on profitablerackets has risen. ThePhilippine Communist Party dismisses the Huks as bandits and reportedly has marked their field commander for The Huks1 influence in central Luzon is, nevertheless, more pervasive than theirhard core of ISO armed guerrillas operating in scatteredsuggest, and local politicians findnecessary to Tacit support isamong the ruralwhich sees the Huksa measure of justice not found in the official courts. In the absence of effectiveaction against social and econc-mic ills, or an all-out military operation against the insurgents, Huk influence in rural areas will orobablv

WEEKLY REVIEW

Jan 69

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