Prior to the war, what fueled the Huk guerrillas' aggression was their hatred for the Japanese. The Hukbalahap, translates to the “People's Anti-Japanese Army”, and their original intent was to resist the Japanese. During World War II, their anger for all of the lives lost to the Japanese combined with their weapons and combat experience, caused them to strongly resist the Japanese. But after the war, US forces came in to try to disarm and break up the guerrillas. Many of the Huks, led by Luis Taruc, escaped into the forest and concealed their weapons. When the elections began, Taruc gained a seat in the House of Representatives. When he was denied the seat by Roxas, the president, he retreated into the jungle and rebuilt the Huk war units to start a terrorist campaign. 
The Huks targeted Luzon, a rich farming area, and appealed to the peasants using the promise of land reform. The national police, the Philippine Constabulary, was unable to stop the Huks and their hit-and-run tactics. By 1950, the United States was afraid for a communist insurgency because the Huks had almost all of Luzon under their control. They sent in millions of dollars and tons of military supplies, and Ramon Magsaysay. He joined the new Philippine army with the Constabulary and increased government intelligence. As the Hukbalahaps were going to attack Manila, the city where the main government was, government agents raided their secret headquarters in Manila and arrested most of the Huks in one night. Magsaysay became president in 1953, and in 1954, Taruc surrendered.The above pictures are of the rebel leader Luis Taruc, and of the rebels behind a hill.