Alex Boncayao Brigade

The Alex Boncayao Brigade, also known by the acronym ABB, was the urban assassination unit of the New People's Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines. Organized in 1984, the unit broke away from the New People's Army as a consequence of a split in ideology during the 1990s. In 1997, the Alex Boncayao Brigade allied itself with the Revolutionary Proletarian Army, the armed wing of the Revolutionary Workers' Party.

Background
The Alex Boncayao Brigade was established in May 1984 and was named after a labor leader killed by Philippine government security forces the year before. The brigade became especially active after the departure of then-President Ferdinand Marcos as a consequence of the People Power Revolution, and during the term of President Corazon Aquino.

In 1993, Filemon Lagman and several cadre of the Manila-Rizal regional committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) broke away from the mainstream group, taking the Alex Boncayao Brigade with them. In 1994, Lagman was arrested in Quezon City, putting a damper on the brigade's activities. The ABB itself, headed by Nilo dela Cruz, would eventually split from Lagman in 1997 after an internal rift. Lagman would later give up the armed struggle and become a labor union organizer. He was assassinated in 2000, allegedly by members of his former revolutionary group.

Nilo dela Cruz, using the alias "Sergio Romero", was arrested that same year in Bulacan after crashing his car while being pursued by government intelligence agents. It would later be revealed that Dela Cruz had allied the ABB with the Revolutionary Proletarian Army, forming the Revolutionary Proletarian Army - Alex Boncayao Brigade. This was not the first time Dela Cruz had been arrested, or used an alias; in the 1970s he had been detained in the Youth Rehabilitation Center at Fort Bonifacio under the alias "Mario Saldaña". He had kept a low profile then and his true identity was never discovered. In 2003 it was reported that Dela Cruz had "shifted from terrorist activities as leader of the ABB to organizing the labor forces of the Philippines into trade unions".

Activities
The Alex Boncayao Brigade is credited with the assassinations of nearly 200 police officers from 1984 until 1993. In 1984, the ABB claimed responsibility for the assassination of Police General Tomas Karingal, a former Chief of the Quezon City Police Department. In 1989, they claimed responsibility for the assassination of United States Army Colonel James N. Rowe, an adviser to the Philippine Army. Consequently, the US government added the ABB to its Patriot Act Terrorist Exclusion List in 2001.

In 1996, the ABB also claimed responsibility for the assassination of Philippine Constabulary Lt. Col. Rolando Abadilla, a former chief of the Metrocom Intelligence and Security Group. As proof of the deed, they turned over the late Abadilla's wristwatch to a Catholic priest, Fr. Robert Reyes.

In 2000 a rifle grenade attack was carried out against the Department of Energy in Manila and Shell Oil offices in the Visayas were strafed. The group claimed credit for the attacks to protest rising oil prices.

Peace talks
In 2000, Nilo dela Cruz of the ABB and Arturo Tabara, leader of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army, announced their intention to engage in peace talks with the government of Joseph Estrada; this resulted in a truce with the Philippine Army in December 2000. This in turn prompted a vehement condemnation from Filemon Lagman; in a press release he branded Tabara and Dela Cruz "scoundrels masquerading as revolutionaries".

In popular culture
A film entitled Alex Boncayao Brigade: The Liquidation Arm of the NPA starring Ronnie Ricketts was released in 1988.