Juan Feleo

Juan Feleo (May 1, 1896 - August 24, 1946) was a Filipino peasant leader and politician. He was one of the founders of one of the Philippines' leading peasant groups, the Kalipunang Pambansa ng Magbubukid sa Pilipinas (National Confederation of Peasants in the Philippines) and a top-ranking member of the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas. He was also involved in the HUKBALAHAP, and his death sparked the subsequent Huk Rebellion.

Feleo was born on May 1, 1896, in Santa Rosa, Nueva Ecija and was the son of a small landowner who had to mortgage his land. In the early 1920s, Feleo worked as a school teacher in his own town, eventually devoting his time defending tenants in Santa Rosa against landlords who threatened to evict them. Feleo was described as a man who was too busy defending peasants to have any real job, and lived on stipends from the KPMP. Feleo, at the time, was disgusted with early peasant organizations in that he felt that they were being taken over "by men who were basically trying to get publicity for themselves and hoping to work their way onto a ticket of a major political party and get elected to office, and then forget about the peasants completely."

In 1919, Jacinto Manahan founded the Union de Aparceros de Filipinas, which expanded in the next decade before becoming the Kalipunang Pambansa ng Magbubukid sa Pilipinas. Feleo is noted as one of its early founders and worked tirelessly with it, partly due to his conviction that it should be a union for peasants. Initially a so-called "apolitical" peasant union, the KPMP had ties to Manuel Quezon and the Nacionalista Party. By 1928, however, the KPMP was more militant and aligned itself fully with the Left. This change was largely orchestrated by both Manahan and Feleo, who was the President and First Vice President of the KPMP, respectively.

His involvement in the KPMP eventually led him to be a central member of the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas during its initial founding, heading the PKP Peasant Department. Feleo at this time also assumed the role of KPMP General Secretary. He also served as Executive Secretary in the government's National Commission of Peasants. Feleo was noted as an impassioned orator and a notorious agitator who was detained multiple times by the Philippine Constabulary. His longest stint in jail was in October 1933, when he was sentenced for four years, nine months, and eleven days in jail.

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