Huk Communist Insurgency

Introduction

Insurgency is an armed rebellion formed by a section of the population and it is targeting against the constituted government to overthrown them. The objectives of the insurgent groups are to improve the conditions of its people caused by political, ideological, economic and social disparity. The insurgents aim to discredit and alienate the government from the population, forcing the government to adopt repressive measures that makes life unbearable for the people, leading to chaotic situations. Then they can quickly seize power. Insurgents depend on the population for supplies, information, sanctuary, training grounds, membership and legitimacy. If they lose these privileges, it is equivalent in losing their sources of power.

He applied the winning ‘hearts and minds’ approach and ended the eight years Huk communist insurgency. Before Ramon Magsaysay's appointment as Defense Secretary, the military forces faced several problems like lack of logistical, supply and intelligence support. The problem of supply shortages caused the security forces to resort to looting from the peasants whom they were supposed to protect and it caused discontent among the peasants. Ramon Magsaysay improved the Philippines military and local police by recruiting militia and home guards, getting rid of incompetent officers and promoting effective leaders. Besides building up the military and operation support, he applied the winning ‘hearts and minds’ approach to obtain political, economic and social support. He attached a civil affairs office to every battalion combat team, allowing it to bring improvements to the lives of the people through infrastructure development and medical aid. The soldiers were well supplied with food and they started to give rather than take from the masses. He declared, “I want every soldier to become a public-relations man for the Army". These actions won the favor of the civilian population as they began to see the presence of government troops in a positive light. This developed a sophisticated public information campaign that won ‘hearts and minds’ for the government. The Huk communist lost the support from the population and were forced to resort to terror and coercion to survive. The Huk communist was defeated after their leader Luis Taurc surrendered to Ramon Magsaysay in 1954. Based on this campaign, it clearly shows how winning ‘hearts and minds’ of the people attributed to the success of defeating