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Extremist recruitment in Mindanao massive, discreet, decisive —expert


Recruitment activities of extremist groups in Central Mindanao have continued and intensified even after the five-month Marawi City siege that broke out on May 23 last year.

In an interview Saturday morning on Super Radyo dzBB, Professor Rommel Banlaoi of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research, said that recruitment activities have become "massive, discreet, and decisive," exploiting the desperate condition of displaced residents of Marawi City.

Members of extremist groups who are espousing violent extremism aggressively recruit young people in tent cities, in schools and in communities, taking advantage of siege victims' grievances, Banloai said.

Thus, the government must not only focus on restoring Marawi City folks' devastated homes but also rebuild their spirit and sense of hope, he added.

Banlaoi noted that recruitment is being in Marawi tent cities, in communities  of neighboring Iligan City, Cagayan de Oro City, Cotabato and other parts of Mindanao.

Extremist groups recruit even children from nine years old and up, and even young ones who are already able to handle a gun, he added.

To counter the lure of extremism, the government must "plant the seeds of peace and hope" in the hearts and minds of the internally displaced people (IDPs), particularly in Central Mindanao and elsewhere.

Quoting an ustadz (teacher) he interviewed Banlaoi said that the IDPs are not asking much from the government. Just a chance to till their land and they will take care of the rest of their needs --education, health, peace and order, among others. 

—LBG, GMA News

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