Evening star., 1946-05-12

but remnants of the Japanese were kill
ed or captured, the Commonwealth gov
ernment ordered all civilians to turn in
their weapons. The Huks refused, Luis
Taruc. their commander in chief, has
repeatedly declared they will never sur
render their arms.
Like any well-run revolutionary or
ganization, the Hukbalahap has its front
men, like Taruc, Alejandrino and Juan
Feleo, who disclaim any responsibility
for the action of their armed followers.
It has its apologists, like Judge Jesus
Barrera of the Peoples Court, who finds
time to be president of the Civil Liber-
ties Union as well as president of the
Democratic Alliance, the parent organi-
zation of the Hukbalahap. Then it has
its killers. The various roles of these
men must be kept in mind if Hukbala-
hap methods are to be understood.
The Huks, that is the avowed killers
who are on all the wanted dead or
alive" lists, don't stop at hating Roxas.
They want to kill him. His name has
been on their list for many years. 1t
was with good reason that Roxas was
under armed guard throughout the
election period.
A mere so miles north of Manila,
is the mountain headquarters of the
Hukbalahap. Small arms, ammunition,
machine guns and grenades, stolen from
the Japanese and the Americans and
supplied to the guerillas during the war
are sufficient in quantity to arm many
thousands of the men. They are known
to be hidden in Hulk villages in PAM
panga, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija Prov
inces. The Japanese American military
policemen and, most recently, Filipino
military policemen tried to capture tho
Mount Arayat cave headquarters. None
succeeded
Campaign of Terror.
Lights fash from the mountain top by
night and armed gangs fan out from the
base to plunder, murder and destroy the
"collaborators name for every
opponent. The Hukbalahap oficer
training school at the base goes on turn
ing out Hulk leaders. The Hulk leader.
ship still issues marriage and arms
carrying licenses, still exacts head tax
upon hundreds of thousands of residents
of South Central Luzon, and still defies
the Commonwealth to do anything
about it.
These are the men Roxas promised
recently he would disarm in the "kindli-
est way possible" These, too, are the
men who have been described in GER
tain American publications as down
trodden peasants engaged in an agra
rian revolt"
Roxas must be a purposeful propa-
gandist as we'll Being a wealthy land
owner and businessman, he may gain an
undeserved reputation as champion of
the privileged unless Americans learn
more than they apparently know now
about this so-called "agrarian unrest"
Interior Secretary Montelibano, whom
the Huks indirectly Endorsed in backing
President Osmena in the election, put
his finger on an important factor in
this misunderstood. highly publcized
trouble last winter when he announced
the result of survey of the chronically
revolutionary region Of South Central
Luzon.
Work so Days a Year.
Montelibano said fatty that the av-
erage barelegged toiler in the rice pad
dies actually works only go days year
and lives the year around on the pro-
ceeds. This statement, which brought no
rebuttal, is but one of many apparently
true facts about the Philippines which
Americans either do not know or else
fail to appreciate.
If an American argues that peasants
should be given a chance to work more
than so days. a year and earn more
OF the good things of life, then the odd.
are that America has never been in the
somnolent Far East, certainly not in
sight of nipa shack on a hot day
when sleeping is better than working.
Laziness OF the peasants provides part
+ OF the answer. A larger part, however,
is based on the historic willingness of
ignorant men the world over to be
swayed by power-hungry demagogues.
The Hukbalahap has been permitted to
grow in strength for years, due to Japa-
nese preoccupation in other areas dur
ing the war, the American unwilling
ness to interfere in domestic problem
and President Osmena's desire to have
the Huks on his side in the recent
election. Now their biggest enemy is
President.
Many Other Problems.
| If Roxas has any time left after bat
tling these problems, he will undoubt-
edly be invited to take action on such
matters as fiat national treasury, the
properties confiscated from the Japa-
nese in the Davao region, the repair Of
roads and railways, the acceptance by
all the people of one language, the
need for foreign capital and western
ideas Conceivably, he may be able to
teach sanitation, thrift and materialistic
ambition to the hundreds of thousands
who have lived in happy, perhaps, but
desolate squalor for generations.
Roxas, colorful and dramatic, may
inherit the popularity accorded by most
Filipinos to their best known leader Of
modern times, the late President Quezon.
Observers generally agree that the peo-
pie turned down quiet, mild-mannered
| Osmena and looked for man Of iron
will, capable of fast action, conciliatory
in manner but fearless in execution
once a course has been charted