“If you want to be creative, stay in part a child, with the creativity and invention that characterizes children before they are deformed by adult society.”
– Jean Piaget
It was a steamy afternoon of October 12, 2020, in the 53IB headquarters at Camp Major Sabido in Barangay Poblacion, Guipos, Zamboanga del Sur. At an old wooden pergola built around a huge mahogany tree with three feet diameter, the usual place where the battalion commander meets with visitors, including government officials and ordinary folks, I met Lito for the first time. He appeared with proper grooming and warm countenance as we exchanged pleasantries as part of Filipino culture of being polite to a stranger. I started the conversation by introducing my name and intentions. While trying to build a friendly rapport, I asked him: “Sir, can you tell me your life story? Your experiences as a child, as a youth, as an adult, and until the present time.” Without hesitation, he told me about his experiences with his family. He started by telling me that his nickname is Lito. He was born in Barangay Malasik, Dumalinao, Zamboanga del Sur, from a poor family primarily acquiring their source of living from farming. I asked about his play age stage, and Lito shared that he grew up in Barangay Malasik with his five siblings and considered this place as a wonderful playground during his childhood. Barangay Malasik is a typical remote community in Zamboanga del Sur surrounded by vibrant green forests and streams, fresh air, and water nestled against the mountains. Despite the community’s natural beauty and dynamism, Lito revealed that the CPP-NPA-NDF frequented Barangay Malasik due to its geographical isolation, slow development, and inaccessibility to basic government services.
While listening to his childhood story, I have seen that his warm countenance dramatically changed to a seemingly low-spirited mood as he narrated his memoirs. He shared that he was brought up by parents whose source of living was binding with the communist group. His father, whom he described as “always out of his sight and unavailable” during his childhood days, was an active CPP-NPA-NDF member. His older brothers were also members of the CTG. His mother took care of him during his formative years and she worked hard to send Lito to school.
As a result of her family’s involvement with the CTG, he was exposed to violent incidents encompassing running from pursuing government forces, frequent transferring from one location to another, firefights between the CPP-NPA-NDF and government forces at a very young age. Lito said that these threats and terrors that he witnessed were apparently the norm during that time and he was not able to enjoy a life that was stable and secure. Violence was the culture in the community in his childhood days where it was just ordinary for people and children to hold guns. Lito said they frequently heard the communist terrorists talk about the human rights abuses of soldiers, corrupt practices of government officials, and the need to fight a cruel government that has forsaken them.
Lito shared in a low voice: “I think I was wrapped around with the thoughts of being the most unfortunate at the lowest part of society. My family lacked financial support from my father who did not provide our needs because he was so engrossed with being an NPA member. I was not able to continue my education and looking back, our family was buried into deep poverty.”
Lito admitted that he had a lot of questions about the reasons why his parents decided to embrace the communist ideology although his childhood friends did not have the same situation. “Compared to my friends, mine was different and scary because my father and my brothers threaded the revolutionary path and unconsciously became my childhood models,” Lito said.
Further, Lito revealed about the death of his eldest brother during an encounter with the military during Martial Law in the 1980s. He observed how their community was governed with a persistent pattern of violence. “To avoid being captured by the perpetrator, my father fled to the mountains while tagging us along with him. We roamed around the hinterlands from Dumalinao to Guipos, Zamboanga del Sur. I saw how the soldiers hit the mountains with massive cannon assaults, purposely burned houses, and killed animals,” Lito disclosed. “The soldiers also intimidated the residents with their long rifles and their frightening aggressiveness. It was unruly back then and perhaps because my father was an active insurgent. Constant warfare was happening. But now, soldiers are professionals and respectful,” he said.
Lito shared that when he was ten years old, he was so exhausted from the different violent situations he witnessed that led him to experience sleep disturbances and nightmares. He confessed that he stumbled upon the emotional struggles of life’s setbacks and challenges. He often felt like he could hardly breathe anymore because it seemed there was no better place available to escape the upheavals. These behavioral manifestations that Lito experienced are symptoms of trauma from violence he was exposed to which created upsetting fears and terrors.
At the age of 13, Lito said, “without any warning, I witnessed gunfire between the CPP-NPA-NDF and the soldiers.” This dreadful circumstance in 1987 led to the untimely demise of his mother who was caught in the exchange of fire right in front of him. Lito was teary-eyed when he shared, “I saw how my mother died. She was killed by a bomb coming from the soldiers. In my perception, soldiers tragically murdered my mother. It was the saddest moment of my life.”
After his mother’s death, his brothers who were already recruited by the CPP-NPA-NDF became his immediate parents. His brothers exploited the situation to convince Lito to join their terrorist group emphasizing the death of their mother. His brothers sowed hatred when his emotion was vulnerable in the midst of extreme grief and agony. This was how the CPP-NPA-NDF systematically cultivated hatred among the masses especially the youth. Lito’s obedience and submission to his brother’s plea of revenge along with his curiosity and inquisitive character traits were gravitated to explore the communist ideology. Lito said, “I yoked with the group because I saw how they were so eager to help my family claim justice for the demise of my mother. I also have fears because nobody will look after me. I was alone and lonely when my mother died.” Lito also revealed that the group explained how the government’s negligence and inequality tormented poor Filipinos including his community. They gave him the hope to complete his education and a better future without the presence of the government. These were the pronouncements of Lito, which motivated him to endure the fight against the government.
I was completely engrossed in listening to and comprehending more of his lived experiences. Hatred and learned helplessness, in my outlook, developed in response to macro and micro environmental difficulties. His narratives contained elements of childhood trauma through observational learning from his chaotic environment.
The subjective experiences of Lito made him develop risk-taking behavior as a protective mechanism in coping with overwhelming internal psychological disturbances. His impulse to join the CPP-NPA-NDF rooted beyond the surface.
The multi-faceted negative experiences that Lito went through led him to develop a power-seeking behavior to avenge her mother’s death and the CPP-NPA-NDF provided a venue for his motivations. Lito also found a comfort zone with the CPP-NPA-NDF organization to escape from a perceived oppressive environment. Hurdling all the trials and tribulations, in 2004, Lito eventually became the commander, highest ranking leader of the Guerilla Front KARA and Main Regional Guerilla Unit (MRGU), WMRPC of the CPP-NPA-NDF operating in the Zamboanga Peninsula.
The Fundamental Principles of
Human Behavior explain Terrorist Acts
Numerous psychological theories have been produced during my research into human behavior, and each of these theories predicts specific influences on specific behaviors.
Terrorism is a deviation from a cultural norm that has a detrimental effect on a society’s peace and development, and as such, it requires special treatment. On the other hand, every aspect of human behavior can be explained and appreciated from a range of diverse psychological perspectives.
For instance, from a psychodynamic perspective, Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson’s prominent ideas emphasize that behavior is motivated by inner, unconscious urges that begin in childhood and over which individuals have little control.31 This perspective contributes to our comprehension of the Lito’s unconscious forms and motives for participating in the terrorism, which were discovered to be rooted in his early childhood years.
Contrastingly, the behavioral viewpoints of John Watson, B. F. Skinner, and Albert Bandura believe that the development of behavior may be understood by observation of observable behavior and environmental stimuli through time.
For instance, Lito’s decision to join the CTG was influenced by the behavior of his father and siblings, who were all members of the CPP-NPA-NDF. Jean Piaget’s cognitive perspective, which emphasizes the importance of how people know, understand, and think about the world, can also be used to explain Lito’s actions. It could be that his understanding of the surrounding environment influenced his decision to join the CPP-NPA-NDF. Also, a cognitive framework for decision-making was established as a result of his ruminations on his mother’s horrific death, the ideology instilled in him by his brothers, and the milieu in which he lived.
Conversely, a contextual perspective explains Lito’s behavior in terms of the interactions of his cognitive, physical, psychological, and social contexts. His behavior can be defined in this way by a range of these interrelated factors.
By contrast, Charles Darwin and Konrad Lorenz’s evolutionary theory postulated that behavior results from genetic inheritance from predecessors, not the other way around. Lito’s behaviors can be characterized as an expression of characteristics that served as adaptive survival mechanisms and were passed down through human process of adaptation and modification. By creating relations with a terrorist organization, Lito perceives that he can survive in an uncertain, risky, and tough living environment. This type of activity, according to Darwin and Lorenz, is an innate genetic proclivity of a person.31
Additionally, it is critical to comprehend Carl Rogers’ and Abraham Maslow’s humanistic spectrum, which emphasize that conduct is chosen freely and is motivated by our innate capacity to strive for our full potential.32 Lito’s behavior is portrayed with a clear goal in mind, since he may have been seeking a comfortable environment in which to develop his identity, a sense of belonging, and growth.
__________
Indeed, terrorism is a perplexing topic to comprehend. However, when I examined the childhood and family actual experiences of friends rescued, several other testimonies share characteristics that are associated with their decisions to join the terrorist organization. The majority of them experienced rough and unpleasant childhood and family histories. They grew up in a geographically isolated area. Numerous individuals originated from dysfunctional families as a result of parental separation. They were exposed to a culture of violence and terrorism at a young age, which resulted in transgenerational trauma. Some were neglected, misunderstood, and were the result of parental comparison and favoritism. Sexual atrocities were also discovered, causing them to flee and seek refuge with the CPP-NPA-NDF group. In general, the friends rescued in this book lack parental care and have experienced an unbalanced family system. Bear in mind that these factors can result in the development of vulnerabilities such as a lack of direction and self-compassion, as well as low self- image and self-efficacy. And these elements may lead to hostility and risk-taking behavior in children and young adolescents’ who have been intellectually, emotionally, socially, and physically wounded by their family’s culture and dynamics.
Numerous psychologists believe that a growing body of data indicates that the number of exposures encountered throughout childhood is connected with misbehavior and the likelihood of developing aggression later in life. If a sequence of negative experiences happens early in life, a person may become more susceptible to the influence of violent groups. Childhood traumas frequently lead to adolescent misbehavior and adult antagonism, which pave the road for violence. And the actors’ childhood stories remind me of Stephen Glenn and Jane Nelsen, who provided the proper parental instructions on how to guide young children toward self- management and self-reliance, not through fear and intimidation, but through the maturity of feeling accountable for one’s commitment or inner-directed behavior.
Many of the friends rescued were recruited at a very young age during their adolescent stage. According to Bloom and Horgan, youth can provide critical support to terrorist organizations.22 Youth exploitation by armed groups continues to be widespread in nations plagued by violent extremism, despite the fact that it is a war crime for any armed group to recruit or utilize children under the age of 15.22 According to a survey issued by West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center, roughly one in ten of the teenage fighters who joined the Islamic State in 2013 and 2014 had previously engaged in jihad.24 This literature substantiates the accounts of friends rescued in the Philippine setting.
This feature of human development and behavior is worth investigating, which leads to the question of what is the underlying storyline of a modern young extremist? What does the literature say to support the testimonies of actors? The narratives of friends rescued developed in their environment, community, family and childhood, and their experiences. Consequently, there is an association between being a victim of a traumatic childhood and engaging in terrorism-related activities.33 Their terrorist periphery is shaped by the past psychological terrain connecting to the present. The worldview they have developed as a result of their experiences made them easily swayed by the deceptive terrorist ideology. Remarkably, the family in this context is crucial and the most significant element in the development of the worldview of individuals. The friends rescued said it all boils down to the influence of their family environment.
Development of Ego States
of Friends Rescued
In the course of grasping the childhood stories of the friends rescued and observing the congruence of their verbal expressions and presence, I was prompted to think about Eric Berne’s approach to understanding the dynamics of every behavior and the formation of their personality. He established the theory of Transactional Analysis in the 1950s, which details how we have evolved and treated ourselves, how we engage and communicate with others, and offers ideas and interventions to help us change and improve. It is a way of improving our interpersonal interactions that is based on the belief that individuals may change and that we all have the right to exist in the world and be accepted.34 His notion explains that every individual has a communication style or transaction and possesses three alter ego states: the Parent, the Adult, and the Child, which represent the realities of life that are observable.
Like the actors, each one has the Parent ego state. It is the voice of authority that has been cultivated in every person since childhood, as well as absorbed conditioning, understanding, and mentalities. The surrounding environment, which includes parents, teachers, classmates, neighbors, and relatives, conditions the person. The Parent ego state within the person is made up of a large number of recorded playbacks, both hidden and obvious.
The friends rescued revealed that as they were growing up, they learned the “hows” to survive under the circumstances of a geographically-challenged environment. Additionally, the absence of parental figures, the neglectful family, the abusive father, the maltreatment of some significant others, lack of education and awareness, lack of sense of community, and poverty drive them to surmount what is available and look for other means in the event of nothingness. These are the reasons and motivations why they left home and eventually trapped in a dreadful direction.
They thought the company of terrorists was home. But the trauma of terror exposure brought them fear and helplessness, and instilled hatred in their hearts. It may lead to or cause inferiority or superiority complex. The greater the feeling of inferiority that has been experienced, the more powerful is the urge for conquest and the more violent the emotional agitation,
Alfred Adler said.35
It was during the peak of their curiosity and aggressiveness they wonder how to achieve justice and alleviate their impoverished condition. The core of their desires is to achieve a good life, as it is human nature to escape the agony of pain.
Just like many of us, we were taught to always be honest; do not lie, cheat, or steal; and all other expressions of attitudes from early childhood. It is embedded in the person’s system that eventually shaped every person’s development that played back into the present. These are the influential roots, the external forces inculcated from the very beginning that swayed the fragile child and produced the Adult ego state.
Furthermore, the Child ego state in every person’s internal reactions and feelings intertwines with external forces. These are the stimulating experiences that create the visual, auditory, tactile, and emotional data that each one possesses. The Child ego state is in command when wrath or despair overpowers reason, although the person has the ability to change it, just like the Parent ego state, but it is not easy.
How the friends rescued were raised during their formative years has a significant effect on how they operate and on choosing relational activities in this world. It has been recorded, and it has been replayed in their memories until it became their way of life.
To sustain the continuum, a person is not complete without an Adult ego state, which has the ability to think and respond for themselves and make decisions based on information acquired during their early years. Each friend rescued’s adult self emerges at the age of ten months and serves as a control mechanism for the Parent and Child ego states. If someone wants to transform the Parent or Child, it must be done through the Adult ego state.
To put it another way, the Parent is the “Taught” concept of life, while the Child is the “Felt” concept of life, and the Adult is the “Thought’’ or “Learned” concept of life.
Eric Berne reminds us that we all have our own script. Our friends rescued have their own Parent, Child, and Adult ego state stories. This becomes a considerable blueprint for their lives they develop as they grow older. Their script for joining the CTG was founded on their early decisions, which were initially formed from childhood. How they were taught or reared resounded in their hearts and formed an internal emotion and reaction to the information from external forces. Finally, it formed a unique concept through their mental faculties as a product of individual perception, learning, and decision.
REFLECTIONS
Child, you have the power
to shape your own destiny.
You must be as valuable as a gem.
You should have been
taken care of.
Shaping one’s destiny toward an individual with a good personality should start in the early childhood stage. It is like establishing a holistic strategy on a functional childhood environment. We may be unaware that the emergence of terrorism today is a product of traumatic childhood experience and a chaotic environment. There is more to it than meets the eye. If we can fully comprehend the ego states of these vulnerable people, we can gradually and steadily prevent the descendants of terrorism from flaunting bad blood and tempting sympathy from these afflicted individuals who have not yet attained autonomy and a sense of direction.
The origin of the long-standing legacy of terrorism in the Zamboanga Peninsula can be determined by asking these questions: What was the story of your childhood? What effect has it had on your decision to join the CPP-NPA-NDF? And what impact has it had on your life today?
Considering Joan Andrea Toledo’s testimony in her book, Crossing the Red Line: Unmasking Covert
Communists, she reveals that she grew up with parents who are both CPP-NPA-NDF leaders. She recalls living up in a horrible and traumatic family environment, being raped numerous times by her own father, which was tolerated by her mother. Her book narrates that the CPP-NPA-NDF sees her parents as their great leaders and anchors who never gave value to the family. She even witnessed how her parents emotionally, verbally, and physically violated each other. As a result, Joan Andrea developed overwhelming anxiety and depression. She longed to find justice for the psychological harm and physical pains that her father and mother caused her for many years. The type of narrative suggests that Joan Andrea’s mental faculties formed a schema that the CPP-NPA-NDF led by her parents was never a good source of good life due to the extreme fear she felt since childhood. Despite her traumatic experiences at the hands of terrorist parents, she did not allow herself to be influenced by the CPP-NPA-NDF ideology. Joan Andrea developed hatred toward her parents and the whole terrorist organization. She never adopted their principles because she sees her parents as models of violence, not love.75
The experiences of Joan Andrea and the friends rescued implicate that an environment that is vehemently cruel to a child’s psychological makeup, regardless whether the child was reared from a wealthy or impoverished family, will develop an attitude of helplessness. This psychological ambivalence would even lead to depression and anxiety, affecting a person’s mental health and well-being.
Although our early childhood experiences have a significant impact on the present, as seen by the various “ego states” that each friend rescued experience, but, each of them has the ability and potential to change. This means, for example, that early childhood events of the friends rescued can be re-defined by them through consciousness and understanding, and changing of self-defeating attitudes and behaviors. And the goal is to bring previously unconscious material into awareness toward becoming more self-sufficient and script-free. A similar viewpoint is inherent in the person-centered approach, in which the individual’s “actualizing propensity” is viewed as a significant force for change, transformation, and growth.
Later in life, assuming all has been resolved, they may find themselves as the primary agent of change in the lives of others. But first and foremost, let them concentrate on their own transformation. They have the ability to be their own life coach.
In spite of the fact that it will take time for them to reclaim their autonomy and self-esteem, they are at least on the road to taking control of their lives. The basic line is that they should pick and select their battles with caution and wisdom. When the situation asks for it, they should be willing to adapt and improvise. However, at no point during their transformational journey, should they revert to the helpless mark of their manipulators. They should always choose to strive to be mindful, courageous, and unwavering in their quest to break away from manipulation.
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