How Voluntary? The Role of Community in Youth Participation in Muslim Mindanao

Three major insurgent groups have waged armed struggle against the forces of the Philippine military since the 1960s. These are the communist-oriented New People’s Army (NPA), the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and its breakaway faction, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The latter two groups were organized by Muslim revolutionary leaders, convinced that armed struggle is the only way to express the right to self-determination for the Bangsamoro Muslims in Mindanao. Late in the 1980s, a group of ragtag armed youth, mostly from the Yakan and Sama ethnic groups based on the island province of Basilan emerged to become the country’s foremost bandit and kidnap-for-ransom group. The group, known as the Abu Sayyaf (‘Bearer of the Sword’) has lately been reported to have recruited several minors into their fold.