Due to the involvement of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, the legal wing of the CPP, in the conflict, it is also called the CPP–NPA–NDF conflict, or simply the C/N/N conflict, especially in the context of peace talks with the Philippine government.[13]
The history of the rebellion can be traced back to March 29, 1969, when Jose Maria Sison's newly formed CPP entered an alliance with a small armed group led by Bernabe Buscayno. Buscayno's group, which was originally a unit under the same Marxist–Leninist 1930s-era Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas-1930 with which Sison had split, was renamed the New People's Army and became the armed wing of the CPP.[14] Less than two years later, President Ferdinand Marcos introduced martial law,[15][16] leading to the radicalization of many young people and a rapid growth of the CPP-NPA.[17][18]
In 1992, the NPA split into two factions: the reaffirmist faction, led by Sison, and the rejectionist faction, which advocated the formation of larger military units and urban insurgencies. Several smaller insurgent groups eventually emerged from the split. This includes the Marxist–Leninist[19]Revolutionary Workers' Party rebellion and the rebellion of the Marxist–Leninist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan,[20]: 682 which broke away from the Communist Party of the Philippines in 1998 and has since been in conflict with both the government and the CPP.[21] Prior to the 1992 split, there had been one other significant splinter group – the Cordillera People's Liberation Army which had chosen to put greater emphasis on regional autonomy for the Cordillera region.[22]
The year 2022 was marked with the deaths of Sison and the husband-and-wife duo of Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, the latter two being the alleged leaders of the NPA. By 2024, the number of active communist rebels was noted to have dropped to just over 1,000 amidst a gradual weakening of the rebellion and the restarting of peace talks with the government.[23][24][25][26]