influence and control the Philippine government once again. The U.S. ordered the Philippine government to disarm and arrest the Huks, even as it permitted more right-wing militias to keep their weapons. These activities were overseen by the Counter-Intelligence Corps, a predecessor to the CIA. The Americans presumed the Huks advocated a communist ideology which would make them a threat in post World War II. With aid from the U.S., the Philippine military began to hunt down the Huks. The guerillas took refuge in the mountains and soon began to counter-attack the Philippine government. As the amount of free trade between the U.S. and the Philippines increased, landowners began to favor the cultivation and exportation of cash crops to the USA such as tobacco and sugar cane over rice and cereals, which resulted in a reduced food supply for the peasants which would lead to other issues much later on relating to starvation. During this time, the farming industry in the Philippines underwent a major transformation. Farmers began to favor trade with the United States over that with the Filipino locals. Traditional landowners hired tenants with legal contracts forming a rentier relationship as an effort to maximize their profits. Tenants were responsible for all the hard labor on farms per their contractual agreements. The obligations of this newly formed relationship of landlord and tenants made it almost impossible for the peasants to survive. Eventually, farmers sought new and innovated forms of cultivation to maximize profit. Farmers found that by implementing farming machinery like that in the U.S., then they could maximize time and profits. With the addition of machinery, farmers were rarely seen working on their own land. The new tenant farming arrangements were even more strenuous than traditional arrangements as the returns were 60/40 in favor of the landowner as opposed to the traditional 50/50 split. This seemed unsustainable to the Huks. The in-sustainability was rooted in the new division between the elite and the poor. The peasants then came together to host riots and strikes against the elite in efforts to revert the Philippines back to the "old" tactics of farming. Their efforts were futile as the elite received support from the United States. Peasants decided to form their own social organizations as a way to voice concerns, demanding change and a reinforced protection of their rights. After numerous protests and strikes, the status quo between the peasants and