Terrorist groups have continued their “massive, discreet, and decisive” recruitment in Mindanao, nearly one year after their debilitating siege of Marawi City, a professor of a think tank devoted to peace efforts said Saturday.
Rommel Banlaoi of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research said these recruitment efforts have only strengthened as terrorists have taken advantage of the “desperate condition” of Marawi’s displaced residents.
He told radio station dzBB that these violent extremists have been aggressively recruiting young people in tent cities, schools and communities, exploiting the siege victims’ grievances against the slow rebuilding efforts of the government.
The terrorists are enlisting children even as young as nine years old, especially those who can already handle a gun, Banlaoi added. Memories of the siege, which began May 23 last year, are still fresh in their minds, he said.
The Duterte administration, which declared martial law in Mindanao considering the Marawi siege, should also rebuild the Marawi residents’ “spirit and sense of hope” and not just restoring their destroyed homes, the professor said.
Banlaoi said the displaced residents of Central Mindanao only want the government’s assurance that they will get a chance to till their land and, quoting a local teacher or Ustadz, said they can take care of their rest of their needs, such as education, health, and peace and order, among others.
To counter the enticements of extremists, the Duterte administration must “plant the seeds of peace and hope” in the hearts and minds of the internally displaced people in Central Mindanao and elsewhere, he added.
Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research was created to better integrate peace studies with research on political violence and terrorism.
The group is an independent organization that is divided into two centers: The Center for Intelligence and National Security Studies, and The Center for Transnational Crimes Research and Non-Traditional Security Studies.