Population: 83.1 million (34.6 under 18)
Government Armed Forces: 106,000
Compulsary Recruitment Age: no conscription
Voluntary Recruitment Age: 17 (training only)
Voting Age: 18
Optional Protocol: ratified 26 August 2003
Other Treaties: GC AP II, CRC, ILO 138, ILO 182


There were no reports of under-18s in government armed forces; legislation was in force to protect children from military recruitment. There continued to be reports of children being used by government-linked paramilitaries and armed opposition groups.

Context:

A one-week state of emergency was declared in February 2006 by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo after claims that members of the military, leftist politicians and communist armed groups were plotting a coup. In June the same year the president declared an "all-out war" to eliminate the New People's Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).1 Thousands more troops were committed to the anti-insurgency campaigns in central and southern Luzon and the Bicol regions.2

Formal peace talks between the government and the National Democratic Front, representing the CPP and the NPA, collapsed in 2004. Informal talks continued for another year, following the government's refusal to seek the removal of the CCP/NPA from the terrorist watch-lists of the European Union and the USA.3

Armed clashes between the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB) and the NPA were reported in 2005 and 2006.4 The RPA-ABB had concluded a peace agreement with the government in December 2000.

Following the signing of a ceasefire agreement in 2003, peace negotiations between the government and the armed separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) continued to make slow progress. Negotiations reached an impasse in May 2006 because of disagreements over ancestral-domain land claims and the amount of territory to be included in an expanded Muslim autonomous region as part of the peace settlement.5 Tensions were increased by the abduction of an Italian priest in June 2007 and the MILF's admission of involvement in the killing and beheading of government troops in Basilan in July 2007 by the radical armed Islamist Abu Sayyaf group.6 There were indications in September 2007 that the peace talks would be resumed.7

The 1996 peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) continued to hold, although clashes between MNLF and the armed forces were reported in April 2007.8 US Special Forces were based in Jolo island to provide non-combat support to the Philippines armed forces in their operations against Abu Sayyaf. These operations were renewed in July and August 2006 following reports that senior operatives from the Indonesian radical Islamist armed group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) had taken refuge with Abu Sayyaf.9

The UN Secretary-General's 2003, 2005 and 2006 reports on children and armed conflict referred to the situation in the Philippines. The Abu Sayyaf Group, the MILF and the NPA were included in the Annex II list of parties that recruited and used children in situations of armed conflict.10

Government:

National recruitment legislation and practice

The 1987 constitution stated that "the prime duty of the Government is to serve and protect the people. The Government may call upon the people to defend the State and, in the fulfilment thereof, all citizens may be required, under conditions provided by law, to render personal military or civil service" (Article 2(4)).

In its 2003 declaration on ratifying the Optional Protocol, the government stated that the minimum age for voluntary recruitment to the Armed Forces of the Philippines was 18, "except for training purposes whose duration shall have the students/cadets/trainees attain the majority age at the completion date".11 The prohibition on recruitment of under-18s was provided for in various acts and regulations. Under the 1991 Memorandum Circular No. 13 on Selective Enlistment/Reenlistment of the Department of National Defense and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, only those aged 18 and above could enlist with the armed forces. The 1991 Republic Act 7077, also known as the "Citizen Armed Forces of the Philippines Reservist Act", provided for the expansion of the armed forces "by the well-disciplined Citizen Armed Force in the event of war, invasion of rebellion".12 The minimum age for reservists in the Citizen Armed Force was 18.

The recruitment and use of under-18s was also prohibited under the Special Protection of Children against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act (Republic Act 7610), which declared children to be "Zones of Peace". It required that "Children shall not be recruited to become members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines or its civilian units or other armed groups, nor be allowed to take part in the fighting, or used as guides, couriers, or spies".13 Specific legislation also existed to prohibit the recruitment of "children of indigenous cultural communities or indigenous peoples into the armed forces under any circumstances".14

Penalties of 20 years' imprisonment and a fine of up to 2 million pesos (approximately US$49,000) were provided for under the Act to Institute Policies to Eliminate Trafficking in Children (Republic Act 9208, 2003) for anyone found guilty of recruiting, transporting or adopting a child "to engage in armed activities in the Philippines or abroad".15 The Act Providing for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour and Affording Stronger Protection for the Working Child (Republic Act 9231, 2003) also prohibited the recruitment of children under the age of 18 for use in armed conflict, and provided for perpetrators to be punished by up to 20 years' imprisonment or a fine.16

Military training and military schools

The minimum age for entry into the Philippine Military Academy was 17 and for the Philippines Air Force Flying School 18. Once enrolled, a cadet became a member of the armed forces, although "in practice does not participate in armed conflict".17

Armed Groups:

Paramilitaries

The government paramilitary Citizen's Armed Force Geographical Units (CAFGU) and the Civilian Volunteer Organizations (CVOs) assisted the military and police officials in the government's anti-insurgency campaigns, operating under guidelines issued in 1987 by the Department of National Defence, which required that their membership was voluntary. Both the CAFGU and CVOs were reported to have recruited under-18s. The government's initial report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on the Optional Protocol stated that, especially in remote areas, "children are reportedly being recruited into paramilitary structures to provide security and protection against ordinary criminal elements such as cattle rustlers, thieves and other armed bandits", and that these organizations, notable among which were the CVOs and CAFGU, "are also fielded to fight guerrilla insurgents".18

In 2005 recruitment of two children by the CAFGU was reported in Negros Occidental by the Region VI (Western Visayas) Office of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR). The CHR informed the local military commander, who then sent the recruits home. However, no action appeared to have been taken against the military commander for having recruited the children. There were also reports that children who were captured or rescued from armed groups were subsequently used in CAFGU operations. Vigilante groups in Mindanao, set up by the military as village defence groups, recruited children from indigenous communities.19

In 2004 children were also reported to have been recruited from ethno-linguistic sub-groups in Davao City, Mindanao, by vigilante groups set up by the military as part of its counter-insurgency efforts against the CPP-NPA in southern Mindanao.20

Armed political groups

There were continued reports of the involvement of children in armed groups including the CPP-NPA, the MILF, Abu Sayyaf Group, the MNLF and the RPA-ABB. Research carried out by a national human rights organization found that the children who joined were predominantly from large, impoverished, rural families in areas where economic opportunities were limited and government delivery of social services was weak.21

New People's Army

Estimates of the numbers of children, both boys and girls, in the NPA varied significantly. According to one estimate, around one-fifth of the NPA's 7,500-strong force were under 18.22 Another estimate put the figure at 3 per cent of the NPA's 9,500-strong force.23

The CPP publicly declared that it prohibited the recruitment of under-18s into the NPA. In April 2006 the executive committee of the CPP central committee reiterated that "the minimum age requirement initially spelled out in 1999 has since become a basic policy of the NPA and covers the entire organization".24 However, the CPP had also noted in a public statement in November 2005 that "units are confronted on a daily basis by youthful volunteers who wish to join the people's army but fail to meet the minimum age requirements". The statement spoke of sanctions imposed on "Red fighters discovered to have failed to meet the new age requirement ... [who] are discharged from the NPA and reassigned to various other non-combat and non-hazardous tasks as civilian activists or else sent home to support family production or continue their schooling".25 It also said that while children over the age of 15 had been accepted, they did not participate in direct hostilities but in activities "that prepare them for self-defence, for defending their communities and contributing to the over-all revolutionary effort", which, it argued, "are often maliciously misinterpreted by the armed forces as actual participation in combat".26

Government forces and the media continued to report NPA recruitment and use of children in hostilities. The 33 cases of rescued, captured or surrendered children involved in armed conflict that were handled by the Department of Social Welfare and Development from January 2005 to March 2007 were all reported to be members of the NPA. In 2004 and 2005, in the context of an intensification of counter-insurgency operations by government forces on the islands of Leyte and Samar, Eastern Visayas region, recruitment of under-18s was reported to have continued. During the period 2005 to 2007, the Department of Social Welfare and Development handled 12 cases from the islands of Samar and Leyte; four of these were girls and the youngest was 11.27

In Negros Occidental the NPA was reported to have increased recruitment in the last quarter of 2005 in the northern area of the province. A raid in November 2005 conducted by the CPP-NPA against one of its splinter groups reportedly involved children who acted as lookouts.28 From July to October 2006 ten children were captured by government forces in Negros Occidental.29

In April 2007 the media reported that a young girl had been killed in an encounter between the armed forces and NPA units in a village in southern Mindanao. The military initially claimed that the girl was a "child warrior". An investigation by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) revealed that the 11-year-old had been killed in crossfire.30

Moro Islamic Liberation Front

There were continuing reports that children had joined the MILF in Maguindanao, Shariff Kabunsuwan and Lanao del Sur.31 According to one estimate, in 2005 up to 13 per cent of MILF's 10,000 members were children.32

In May 2006 the MILF stated that "The general policy of the MILF is not to recruit children for combat; if they are with the MILF, their roles are purely auxiliary in character." It was noted that the MILF is "fully cognizant that the rightful place of children is in schools", although it "is preferable that children, who are forsaken or have no reliable guardians, are taken cared of by the MILF rather than allow them to become misfits in society", and that it was "the right of everybody including children to self-defence especially when communities or villages are under indiscriminate military actions by the enemy".33

Abu Sayyaf Group

The Abu Sayyaf Group, together with the Rajah Solaiman Movement, whose membership consisted primarily of militant converts to Islam, was reported to have been responsible for bomb attacks which from January 2000 had caused over 1,700 casualties, including the deaths of young children and teenagers. Both groups were reported to be linked to the JI.34 US Marines involved in clashes with Abu Sayyaf in August 2007 were quoted by the media as saying that Abu Sayyaf "was fully armed with heavy type[s] of weapons and they were all young, as young as 15 years old".35 The Abu Sayyaf group made no public statements on the age of recruitment.

Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR):

The Republic Act 7610 outlined standard operating procedures for the treatment by government forces of under-age members of armed groups. It required that individuals under 18 "arrested for reasons related to armed conflict" by the military or the police be separated from adults in detention, be provided with immediate free legal assistance, have their parents or guardians immediately informed of their arrest, and be transferred to the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development within 24 hours from the time of rescue.36 The March 2000 Inter-agency Memorandum of Agreement, on the handling and treatment of children involved in armed conflict, revised in June 2006, set out the responsibilities of various government agencies and standard procedures to be observed in handling child soldiers. The memorandum required police and military authorities "to protect the child from further exploitation or trauma". It also required that under-18s be transferred to the Department of Social Welfare or local authority within 24 hours "under normal conditions" and within 72 hours "when the situation does not warrant the turnover of the child within the prescribed period". Parties to the memorandum include the departments of Defence, Interior, Local Government and Health, as well as the military and the police.37

In some cases the guidelines relating to rescued, captured or surrendered child soldiers were not implemented. In one reported case, a 13- or 15-year-old boy, suspected of being a member of the NPA, was forced to lie on the road for several hours in the heat of the day.38

Other children who surrendered or were captured were charged with rebellion, possession of firearms and other similar security-related charges. In March 2007 the Program Management Bureau of the Department of Social Welfare and Development reported that three children from a province in the southern Luzon region were in military custody and that charges had been filed against them. Another two children from southern Luzon were also reported to have been charged and were awaiting trial.

Provisions in the Memorandum of Agreement which required that former child soldiers be protected from exposure to the media, except where justified "by compelling national security interest" and in consultation with the Department of Social Welfare and Development, were also ignored in some cases. In March 2007 the armed forces issued a media release displaying pictures of children and young people captured in Mindanao.39

In cases where guidelines were adhered to and children were returned to their families, a wide range of services was provided by the social welfare and development offices, including legal assistance. Counselling and protective custody were provided to children who were unable to return to their families. Other cases were documented of children associated with armed groups being returned directly to their families by the military or the police without the support of local social services.40


1 "Crush-NPA war has 3 deadlines", Manila Times, 20 June 2006, www.manilatimes.net.

2 Human Rights Watch (HRW), "Scared silent: impunity for extrajudicial killings in the Philippines", June 2007.

3 Ibid.

4 "NPA, RPA fight anew in Victorias City", SunStar, 29 November 2005, www.sunstar.com.ph/; "Scores killed as rival rebel groups clash", Manila Times, above note 1, 9 August 2006.

5 Amnesty International Report 2007.

6 "MILF admits attack against marines, says 23 troops dead", GMA.TV, 11 July 2007, www.gmanews.tv.

7 "Government – MILF peace talks to continue", SunStar, above note 4, 10 September 2007.

8 "AFP overruns 2 MNLF Sulu camps", GMA.TV, above note 6, 15 April 2007.

9 Human Rights Watch World Report 2007; International Crisis Group (ICG), "Indonesia: Jemaah Islamiyah's current status", Crisis Group Asia Briefing No. 63, 3 May 2007.

10 Reports of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict, 26 October 2006, UN Doc. A/61/529-S/2006/826, and 9 February 2005, UN Doc. A/59/695-S/2005/72.

11 Declarations and Reservations to the Optional Protocol, www2.ohchr.org.

12 Republic Act No. 7077, 27 June 1991.

13 Republic Act No. 7610, 17 June 1992.

14 Republic Act No. 8371, Indigenous People's Rights Act, 29 October 1997.

15 Republic Act 9208, 26 May 2003.

16 Republic Act 9231, 19 December 2003.

17 Second periodic report of the Philippines on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, UN Doc. CRC/C/65. Add.31, 5 November 2004, para. 248.

18 First periodic report of the Philippines on the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, UN Doc. CRC/C/OPAC/PHL/1, 7 November 2007, para. 9.2.6.

19 Philippine Coalition to Protect Children Involved in Armed Conflict (Protect CIAC) & Southeast Asia Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (SEASUCS), Preventing Children's Involvement in Armed Conflicts in the Philippines: A Mapping of Programs and Organizations, November 2007, draft version.

20 Protect CIAC & SEASUCS, Alternative report on the implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, November 2007, draft version.

21 Philippine Human Rights Information Center (PhilRights), Deadly Play Grounds: The Phenomena of Child Soldiers in the Philippines, 2005.

22 Andrew Marshall, "The Philippines unending guerrilla war", Time Magazine, 25 January 2007, www.time.com/time/magazine.

23 PhilRights, above note 21.

24 Researcher's translation of "Panayam ng Unicef Research Team hinggil sa usapin ng mga batang sundalo Abril 2006" (Interview by the Unicef Research team with the CPP EC-CC on the question of child soldiers), Ang Bayan, special issue, 25 August 2006, www.philippinerevolution.net. See also Protect CIAC & SEASUCS, above note 19.

25 Information Bureau, Communist Party of the Philippines, "The NPA does not allow below-18 recruits", press release, 19 November 2005, www.philippinerevolution.net.

26 Researcher's translation, above note 24.

27 Summary of children involved in armed conflict January 2005 – March 2007 by the Progam Management Bureau of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, provided to the researcher.

28 Confidential sources, September 2007.

29 From the draft report "The situation of children involved in armed conflict in Negros Occidental", a draft submitted on 22 January 2007 by the Negros Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (NAHRA) to the Philippine Coalition to Stop the Use of Children as Soldiers (PCSUCS) as part of the research component of the project "Strengthening protection of children involved in armed conflict: implementation of the 11-point Program of the Philippine Coalition to Stop the Use of Children as Soldiers".

30 Commission on Human Rights (CHR), Case of Galacio, Grecil Buya versus Elements of the 67th IB, PA, Case No. XI-07-2984 CV RE, copy of the documents provided to the researcher by the Child Rights Center of the CHR – National Office on 22 June 2007.

31 SEASUCS, above note 19.

32 PhilRights, above note 21.

33 Moroland, "MILF reiterates policy on 'child soldiers'", 2 May 2006, http://moroland.net.

34 HRW, Lives Destroyed: Attacks against civilians in the Philippines, July 2007.

35 "Military: No letup in war vs terror", Inquirer, Mindanao Bureau, 21 August 2007, http://archive.inquirer.net.

36 Republic Act No. 7610, 17 June 1992.

37 Copy provided to the Philippine Coalition to Protect Children Involved in Armed Conflict.

38 Confidential sources, June 2006.

39 (Diamond) Division, Philippine Army, "Army in Agusan Del Sur Captured Minor NPA Combatants", 26 March 2007. Copy of photograph held by the Philippine Coalition to Protect Children Involved in Armed Conflict.

40 Confidential sources.

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