While I found Rigoberto Tiglao’s Nov. 3 column informative, I think it left out two models of counterinsurgency, the Malayan Emergency and even our own experience with the Hukbalahap.
In the Malayan Emergency, Malaysia was helped by the United Kingdom to defeat the Maoist insurgents, not solely with firepower but with community work, psychological warfare (which included bounties on the heads of the leaders) and “hamletting” (grouping people inside a safe area to deny rebels food). They even had some clever techniques, such as having rice cooked for a whole hamlet at one single area to limit the food reaching the rebels.
The Philippine experience on the Huks included military teams that, like the ones in the Malayan Emergency, used unconventional tactics to fight an unconventional enemy.
—JERICO A. PARAZO, jericoparazo@yahoo.com