The Alex Boncayao Brigade aims to create a communist regime in the Philippines through revolution. It opposes globalization and the "imperialism" of capitalist nations such as the United States.

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The Alex Boncayao Brigade has engaged in assassinations, beatings, urban terrorism, kidnapping for ransom and extortion through protection schemes labeled as revolutionary taxes.

Operations of the Alex Boncayao Brigade (ABB) have been intertwined with the activities of several communist-oriented insurgency groups in the Philippines. The ABB was created as a faction of the New People's Army (NPA), a terrorist organization formed in 1969 as the armed wing of a Philippine communist organization. NPA committed itself to a worker-peasant alliance operating through a jungle-based guerrilla movement to bring about a revolution.

In the early 1980s, a faction of the NPA called the Manila-Rizal committee opposed this strategy. The Manila-Rizal group wanted to concentrate on urban terrorism. In 1984, Felimon "Popoy" Lagman redirected the Manila-Rizal committee's activities towards urban targets and named this new group the Alex Boncayao Brigade, in memory of a member who was killed in the 1970s. Between 1984 and 1991, the ABB operated as a faction of the larger NPA. As a result of continuing strife between the NPA and ABB, the groups finally split in 1991.

The ABB has been responsible for more than 100 murders in the Philippines. The group is suspected of killing U.S. Army Col. James "Nick" Rowe in 1989. In 1968, Rowe had escaped from his Communist Vietnamese captors after five years during the Vietnam War. He later provided counter-insurgency training for the Philippines. After 1995, ABB de-emphasized its communist ideology. Several terrorist incidents in the late 1990s were apparently initiated as anti-globalization protests.

The government of the Philippines and a number of insurgent groups sporadically engaged in peace negotiations since the mid-1980s. The ABB has been included in some of these talks as a member of various fronts that share revolutionary goals. The brigade landed on the U.S. State Dept.'s watch list of terrorist groups after it attacked a U.S. Dept. of Energy Building and Shell Oil facilities in 2000. In December 2000, the ABB signed a truce with the Philippine military. Currently, the group is considered relatively dormant.

Despite sporadic incidents of violence involving ABB and other groups, as well as incidents stemming from conflicts between splinter ABB groups and the New People's Army (NPA), the Philippine peace process has significantly reduced insurgency activities. Government efforts on infrastructure projects may have also reduced support for revolutionary action.

In January 2010, the government said its agenda for the year included completion of the comprehensive peace agreements with rebel groups; the implementation of all final peace agreements signed since 1986; and the mainstreaming of rebel groups through an enhanced amnesty, reintegration and reconciliation program. The government said it also planned to continue efforts aimed at rehabilitation, development and the "healing of conflict- affected areas."

1984
The Manila-Rizal splinter group of the Philippine communist New People's Army committed itself to urban warfare against capitalism and the government, renaming itself the Alex Boncayao Brigade. The group promoted ideological warfare that previously had been reserved for rural areas. The ABB became known for murdering police officers.

1989
The ABB was suspected of killing U.S. Army Col. James "Nick" Rowe, a counter-insurgency adviser to the Philippine government.

1990s
Communist-affiliated groups engaged in disputes among themselves, partly based on ABB's controversial assassinations. The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) conducted internal purges. A New People's Army (NPA) leader deserted that group in 1993. Internal squabbles and government infiltration weakened ABB's effectiveness. The leader of the ABB lost control to a rival within the organization.

1999
The ABB and another militant group, the Revolutionary Proletarian Army (RPA), joined forces under the auspices of a political front organization, the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa-Pilipinas (RPM-P), to explore peace negotiations with Philippine President Joseph Estrada. The ABB and RPA nonetheless continued their insurgent activities.

2000
March: The ABB attacked the Manila offices of Shell Oil and the U.S. Dept. of Energy with rocket-propelled grenades.

December: The insurgents and the military agreed to a truce, including a ban on the use of anti-personnel mines.

2003
Internal strife continued among insurgent groups. In July, the governor of Negros Oriental denied using RPA/ABB as a personal security force against the NPA. Relations between the CPP/NPA and RPA/ABB deteriorated as NPA launched several attacks against RPA/ABB.

2005
The CPP refused to enter into peace talks with the Philippine government as long as the CPP/NPA remained listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the European Union.

October: The government revoked the immunity that it had applied to about 100 CPP members, making them liable for arrest and prosecution.

2006
April: The Philippine presidential adviser on the peace process, Jesus Dureza, declared that the government's peace process was "not a strategy to stamp out terrorism, but is just parallel in our counter-terrorism efforts." Dureza issued his comments at a forum on "Peace-Building as Counter-Terrorism Strategy," held in Lapulapu City. The process was part of a multi-faceted plan proposed by Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The government noted the plan included completion of comprehensive peace agreements with rebel groups that would result in the permanent cessation of armed hostilities by 2010. The president also called for the completion and implementation of all final peace agreements signed since 1986; mainstreaming rebel groups through an enhanced amnesty and reconciliation program; and rehabilitation of areas affected by fighting.

2007
May 10: The Philippine army seized a weapons cache in the Iloilo province believed to belong to ABB. The cache included five M-16s, one M-14 and a shotgun.

June: Troops clashed with ABB members leading the government to deploy 500 soldiers in operations against ABB and the NPA. The clashes occurred despite the declaration of an official cease-fire.

A split within the RPA/ABB spurred by leader Carapali Lualhati apparently took place. Disputes centered around alleged harassment during the elections. The opposing leader Nilo de la Cruz was "expelled" from the group as well as several other central committee members; de la Cruz similarly claimed to expel Lualhati. Both splinter groups have retained the same name.

September: The political fronts of the ABB urged the government to speed up investigations on political killings in Negros Oriental. Conflict between communist factions led to several alleged assassinations.

2009
Jan. 22: The government said it would release P100 million (US$2.2 million) to the ABB for various development projects in western Visayas. The funds were made available under the 2008 budget as a component of the peace process.

Feb. 6: Police charged six persons with murder after a local government employee was killed during an ambush in Laguna. Three of the suspects were members of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB). The driver for an official of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority was killed in the ambush.

May 1: Members of the ABB reportedly set up armed check points in Iloilo, a violation of the terms of the peace process. A presidential assistant confirmed that he had received reports describing the checkpoint activities and ordered an investigation. A splinter group of the ABB may have been operating the checkpoint.

Aug. 9: Attackers killed a political official of the RPA-ABB in Negros Occidental province. Shortly after a meeting of the Democratic Alliance of Labor Organizations, gunmen shot and killed Jose Salve, the ABB political representative. A second person was wounded in the attack. Police indicated that the attackers could have been members of the rival NPA.

Sept. 25: Members of the RPA-ABB protested human-rights abuses attributed to the NPA. At a forum preceding a memorial service for slain ABB leader Arturo Tabara, representatives of ABB charged the NPA with continuing violations, including driving local villagers away from their homes and sources of income.

Nov. 9: The government reported that the RPA-ABB had sought the assistance of the Negros Occidental provincial government in implementing livelihood projects for the former rebel group. "We are on our ninth year of the peace agreement and so far, the government has put on the ground a third of its commitment of P500 million (US$10.8 million) and in the works is another third," an ABB representative said.

2010
Jan. 3: The Philippine government concluded the last of a series of Learning Experience Study sessions (LES) to review the implementation of the national peace plan. A national consultation and validation workshop was scheduled for Dec. 16 in Manila.