(acronym for the Tagalog name “Hukbo ng Bayan Laban Sa Hapon” [Anti-Japanese People’s Army]), a popular army created in the Philippines on Mar. 29, 1942, from partisan detachments and led by the Communist Party. As of late 1944 the Hukbalahap numbered approximately 10,000 troops, mainly peasants from central and southern Luzon. The army fought against the Japanese occupying forces, the Filipino collaborationist landowners, and the police of the puppet regime.
After the surrender of the Japanese in World War II in September 1945, the Hukbalahap voluntarily disbanded, and the veterans of the army formed the Hukbalahap Veterans’ League. After the Philippines were declared independent in 1946, the league pushed for democratic agrarian reforms. In response to repression by the authorities, Hukbalahap detachments were formed once again. In an attempt to reach a peaceful solution to the questions at issue, the Hukbalahap leaders and the government held talks in 1946 and 1947. When the negotiations proved fruitless, the Communist Party assumed the leadership of an armed struggle against the government. The Hukbalahap was reorganized and renamed the People’s Liberation Army. By the end of 1952 the main forces of the army had been defeated by the government troops and dispersed.
G. I. LEVINSON