President Quirino assigned Ramon Magsaysay, minister of national defense, to combat the Huk insurgency. On 18 Oct. 1950, Magsaysay captured the Secretariat, including the general secretary Jose Lava, following the earlier capture of the Politburo in Manila. Magsaysay attracted peasant support by reforming the Army and Constabulary. After the 1951 Central Committee meeting, a policy of "preservation and conservation of strength...for a long and bitter struggle" was adopted, and Luis departed with a group of ninety men and seven women, for the Sierra Madre Mountains. The latter part of 1952 was spent hiding in the Mount Arayat area. In January 1953, Luis was suspended from the Politburo and Secretariat for his "Call for Peace". On February 10, 1954, Manuel Manahan and Benigno Aquino, Jr., appointed as President Ramon Magsaysay's representatives, met with Luis Taruc. After four months of negotiations, Taruc surrendered unconditionally to the government on 17 May 1954, effectively ending the Huk rebellion. On 15 June 1954, Luis met with President Magsaysay and Gen. Eulogio Balao at Camp Murphy, where Luis agreed to a trial.