The Philippines: The Last of the Huks

Preoccupied with the war in Viet Nam, the U.S. sometimes forgets that a similar struggle against Red rebels was won. in the Philippines. Under relentless pressure from President Ramon Magsaysay’s counterguerrilla forces, Philippine Communist Leader Luis Taruc surrendered a decade ago and accepted amnesty, ceding command of 56,000 remaining Hukbalahap guerrillas to Jesus Lava, a wiry physician.

One steaming noon last week, intelligence agents of the Philippine Constabulary closed in on a modest clapboard house near Manila’s center and roused a pale, gaunt man from a pre-lunch nap. His indignant protest of innocence lasted only until the agents found letters from Mao Tse-tung and other top Communist leaders. When confronted by the now respectable Luis Taruc, he admitted he was Jesus Lava, 51, general secretary of the Philippine Communist Party. After years in the backwoods, Lava had apparently come to Manila to visit his family.

Though Lava faced trials for armed rebellion and murder, he was taken to Malacanan Palace for an almost cordial interview with President Diosdado Macapagal. The meeting was symbolic of the fact that the once powerful Huks are no longer a serious threat in the Philippines, even though economic instability and corruption remain dangerous; the hard-core armed Huks probably number only a few hundred, and they may be able to draw on perhaps 10,000 supporters in remote Mindanao and Luzon. Successor to Lava as leader of the Huks is Pedro Taruc, cousin to Luis, who seems determined to continue desultory attacks on remote villages.