Balgos, Mariano

Balgos, Mariano 

Year of birth unknown; died Nov. 18, 1954. A typesetter and figure in the Filipino workers’ movement.

In 1917, Balgos was one of the leaders of the printers’ trade-union movement. During the 1920’s he played a prominent role in the petit bourgeois nationalist organizations Mabini Brotherhood and Tanggulan and was closely connected with the Aglipayan Church. Later he changed to a Marxist ideological position and participated in the creation of the Communist Party of the Philippines (1930). During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines (December 1941–45), Balgos was deputy chief, then (beginning in 1944) chief of the political section of the anti-Japanese partisan army, Huk-balahap. After World War II he was vice-president of the Congress of Workers’ Organizations and secretary-general of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Beginning in 1950, Balgos was commander of a large unit of the country’s Liberation Army in southeastern Luzon. He died in battle against government forces.