First of three parts
ABDULLAH “Orak” Macabago was 12 years old when he was recruited by extremists. Prior to becoming a child soldier under the flag of the Islamic State (IS) in Southeast Asia, Orak was a drug courier in his small town in Lanao del Sur.
Terrorist organizations such as Daesh—another name for IS or ISIS—recruit children and teenagers because they are easy to brainwash into ruthless and unquestioning fanatics devoted to a terrorist ideology. Innocent-looking children and teenagers are ideal recruits.
In the case of Orak, the government crackdown on illegal drugs was an added push factor.
“Wala akong pera. (I don’t have money.) Humina na ang droga, mahirap na magbenta ng shabu ngayon, kaya nu’ng nag-recruit ang ISIS ng mga bata, sumama ako (It’s difficult to make money now from selling crystal meth so when ISIS began recruiting children, I decided to join),” he said.
Children and teenagers from Northern Mindanao used as drug couriers were the first wave of child warriors recruited by Daesh in the Philippines, Orak said.
The recruitment of children for terror activities is an alarming trend across the globe, according to analysts, with Daesh, a Salafi-jihadi terrorist organization, going back underground as part of a cycle of expansion and contraction of terrorist organizations to sustain some of their power, while awaiting an opportunity to resurge.
In 2010, the trade of shabu (methamphetamine) became the main source of livelihood in Orak’s hometown in Mindanao.
Orak first took shabu at 10. At that age, he began working as a drug courier alongside his 14-year-old cousin “Jamal,” to earn enough to sustain their own drug addiction and buy the gadgets they wanted.
When the PNP launched “Oplan Double Barrel-Project Tokhang,” a nationwide campaign against illegal drugs and other forms of criminality, in 2016, Orak’s boss in the narcotics trade became a child-soldier recruiter for Daesh-aligned militants, who attacked the town of Butig in Lanao del Sur in November 2016 and Marawi City in May 2017.
P20,000 commission
In a chance encounter, Taja Itomama, Orak’s recruiter, said that for each child he recruited into joining IS-Philippines, he was given a commission of P20,000.
Taja, a Maranao from Lanao del Sur, was one of the first two Daesh child recruiters in the province, operating on behalf of the late Isnilon Hapilon. He identified the other recruiter as “Mata” or “Amino.”
According to Taja, the “fast-cash culture” among Maranaos motivated many child couriers to join IS as an alternative source of income when the drug war began.
“Sa amin, ayaw hanapbuhay, gusto kita agad (In our culture, people don’t like to have a proper livelihood. We prefer quick cash). Kaya, noong binigyan kami ni Mata ng shabu at maraming pera ng ISIS, sumali na kami sa kanila (So when ISIS gave Mata and me crystal meth and lots of cash, we immediately joined ISIS),” he said.
“We were few in 2015; but in 2016, when the war on illegal drugs began, the membership of ISIS increased dramatically in Mindanao. We are not Muslim. We are Maranao. But the ones who recruited us to work for ISIS were religious Muslim leaders,” he said in Filipino.
Poverty, too
As of September 2018, some 200 child soldiers from the island villages of Carles, Estancia, and San Dionisio, Iloilo have been recruited to Daesh, in addition to those that came from Sabah and Marawi, according to an intelligence source.
According to “Mr. Nonong,” an intelligence officer in the Visayas, families in the island villages of Iloilo were paid only P30,000 (about $555) in exchange for each young recruit.
“Mahirap ang kabuhayan doon. Puro mangingisda ang mga tao. Minsan, walang huling isda. Malaki ng halaga ang P30,000 para sa kanila. Sa susunod na giyera, handa na sila sumabak. Kumuha ang ISIS sa mga island barangay dahil madali silang ma-enganyo sa pera dahil sa hirap ng buhay. (Life is extremely hard in these areas. Most people make a living only from fishing. Sometimes, they hardly catch any fish. P30,000 is a big sum for these poor families. In the next war [of the IS], the child warriors will be ready for battle. IS recruited child warriors from island barangays because people marginalized by poverty are easy to recruit),” he said.
Training child soldiers
According to Orak, in their first two months of training as child warriors, they served as lookouts. After two months, their rigorous three-month training began.
“Sa training namin, kasama ang takbo, talon, paghawak at paggamit sa baril at granada, pagsalang sa ambush, at ang practice sa rido bilang front-liners sa pagpatay ng ibinigay na targets (Our training included running, jumping, gun assembly, gun shooting, handling grenades, taking part in ambush missions, and practicing our skill to kill ruthlessly by serving as front-liners in clan feuds, tasked to eliminate assigned targets). ‘Pag kami ay magaling na sa mga yun, pwede na kami isabak sa bakbakan kasama ng mga lider namin (After passing our child warrior training, we were deployed for battle to join our [IS] leaders),” he said.
After five months, they were grouped into smaller teams of five according to roles and missions.
Orak was assigned to continue monitoring the military.
“Madali kaming turuan at hindi madaling makilala (We learn quickly and we are not easy to identify or recognize). Magaling magmasid at hindi pagkakamalan na terorista (We are skilled observers and we are not classified immediately as terrorists). Kami ang mga lookout. Madali kaming kaawan ng military at pulis dahil nga mga bata kami (We serve as lookouts. Military and police officers usually let their guards down around us because we are children),” Orak told The Manila Times.
Now 15 years old, Orak is hiding in a city in Mindanao, doing his best to finish grade school upon the prodding of his father, Makol.
Orak said that once in a while, he still meets his recruiter Taja Itomama to serve as lookout for other illegal rackets, while they lay low from Daesh-orchestrated terrorist activities.
Taja said Orak was “crazy” to go back to school.
“Nasa paaralan, pero parati gutom. Anong tawag dun? E di baliw. Dati sa akin, parati marami pera, kaya niya bumili kahit ano gusto niya (He is in school now, but he is always hungry. So what do you call that? Isn’t that insanity? When he was with me, he could buy anything he wanted). Pag napagod din `yan na parati siya gutom, babalik din sa akin `yan. Pag hindi, nabaliw na talaga siya, di ba (When he finally grows tired of being hungry, he will come back to me. If he doesn’t, then he is really insane, right)?”
To be continued