Deadly Playgrounds: The Phenomenon of Child Soldiers in the Philippines, 2005
Ramil Andag; Victor Buenaventura; Vanessa Retuerma; Dr. Nymia Simbulan; Dino Subingsubing
Philippine Human Rights Information Center
E-mail: prights@tri-isys.com

This book provides the history and context of child soldiers at the global and national levels, and highlights the research on the phenomenon of child soldiers in the Philippines. It aims to examine and analyze the factors and circumstances surrounding children's involvement in armed conflict. Respondents of the research include 194 child soldiers (CS) from the New People's Army, Revolutionary Proletarian Army - Alex Boncayao Brigade, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, tribal groups, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Units. The study presents the socio-demographic profile, life situations, circumstances and effects of involvement, dreams and aspirations of the CS interviewed. A combination of quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques is employed, which include a survey, in-depth interviews with active and demobilized CS, key informant interviews, a case study, and review of documents, records and materials. A purposive samplin g method is utilized to identify the respondents for the survey and in-depth interviews of CS, and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 10 software is used in processing the quantitative data generated in the study.

The findings revealed that poverty is the major reason of children's involvement in the armed conflict, and most of CS come from big, impoverished rural families which depend on farming as their source of income. Other reasons include: 1) government neglect in providing basic social services; 2) experience of abuses, injustices and atrocities committed by government armed forces; 3) presence of people who believe in the ideologies of an armed group; 4) secessionist advocacy and support for holy war; 5) affiliation of family members in the armed groups; and 6) survival response. The study emphasizes that child soldiers are exposed to high-risk situations such as: a) arrest, torture and detention; b) displacement; c) separation from family members; d) starvation; e) disease, injury and death. The study also revealed that some gender stereotyping in armed groups are present.