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Philippine Communism has its roots in the Moscow-oriented Partido Komunista Ng Pilipinas, founded in 1930, which enjoyed a blaze of glory during the early years after the country achieved independence in 1946. The P.K.P. resurfaced briefly in the 1960s, attracting Marxist students, but the marriage proved tenuous. Impressed by the Cultural Revolution's gaining momentum in China, eleven young theorists who had been expelled from the P.K.P. announced the birth of a rival Marxist party in 1968. It defined its ideology as "Marxism- Leninism, Mao Tse-tung thought." By the following year the new Communist Party of the Philippines had a guerrilla wing, the N.P.A. During the nine years of martial law, military drives against the rebels, as well as constraints on interisland travel and free assembly, thwarted the insurgency's growth. But the rebels used the time to map out battle tactics. Lacking a Ho Chi Minh Trail for receiving foreign supplies, or a remote base camp like Mao's Yenan, they devised a strategy for encircling the cities from the countryside. It emphasized self-sufficiency and autonomy in the field. In the jargon of guerrilla movements everywhere: "The dominant factor of Philippine Communism is flexibility, the ability to adapt to conditions," says Carlos, a Communist political organizer in the southern Visayan islands.
The guerrillas also devised the agaw armas (seize arms) strategy, which stresses the central importance of capturing enemy weapons in any military operation. Not surprisingly, the current N.P.A. arsenal closely resembles that of the armed forces: U.S.-made M-14 and M-16 rifles, M-1 Garands, Browning automatic rifles and M-79 grenade launchers. U.S. and Philippine officials agree there is no evidence that the insurgents receive arms from the Soviet Union or any other Communist country. "More than once we have turned down aid offered by foreign governments," says Romy, a guerrilla on Mindanao. "We want to avoid outside influences."
As economic conditions deteriorated in the early 1980s, the insurgency gained ground. Its biggest break came with the murder of Opposition Leader Benigno Aquino in August 1983. Suspicions of government complicity touched off a wave of anti-Marcos sentiment and cynicism about the political system. The Communists have taken advantage of this by preaching the overthrow of what they call the "U.S.-Marcos dictatorship."
In response, the armed forces are not only waging a more aggressive campaign in the field but are now sending teams into N.P.A.-influenced barrios to denounce Communism. One favored tactic is to show The Killing Fields, a ( film that depicts the atrocities committed by Kampuchea's Khmer Rouge. The film's impact, however, is often blunted because the troops soon disappear, leaving the villagers unprotected against the insurgents.