ILIGAN CITY – A mother’s hope of finding her child, who was three years old when he disappeared seven years ago, was rekindled after she saw a photo of an alleged child warrior of Isis-inspired extremists posted in social media.
Several photos of children bringing high powered firearms, believed to be taken inside the main battle area in Marawi City, have been circulating in social media.
Rowhanisa Abdul Jabar, a resident of Dagupan, Tondo, Manila, said her heart skipped a beat after she saw a picture of one of the child warriors that a friend sent her.
Jabar said the friend sent her the photo after noticing similarities in the features of the child warrior with the missing Jabar boy.
Jabar’s missing child is named Azramie Magondacan, also known as Ram-Ram.
Jabar said her boy went missing on July 4, 2010.
Ram-Ram was kidnapped from her rented apartment while she was tending her store in Tutuban Mall, Divisoria, Manila. The main suspect was her helper named Ula Arada, a Tausug from Jolo who had been with her for only five months.
Arada is now in jail but her alleged accomplices, also Tausugs, are still at-large.
“Nahirapan pa kasi akong mag-move on kaya nanginginig ako at kinakabahan (nang makita ko ang picture). Merong side na pwedeng anak ko, merong ding side na hindi. Pero kung totoo man na sa Marawi ang mga child warrior na iyon, sana hindi nalang siya iyon dahil masakit sa akin kung anak ko siya na isa nang ISIS,” Jabar said in a phone interview.
Jabar said she is appealing to the military to bring the child warrior to safety if they are able to find him.
“Sana hindi nila papatayin para mapa-DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) test at malaman ko kung anak ko ba talaga siya. Kung siya man iyon, sana mabuhay pa siya,” Jabar said.
In a press briefing, August 25, Colonel Romeo Brawner, Deputy Commander of the Task Group Ranao, confirmed that children are being used by the ISIS-inspired group as fighters in the ongoing war in Marawi City.
“Our soldiers have a soft spot for young fighters but they are forced to shoot them when they get violent with their arms. Minsan nga, may isang bata nakita nila tumatakbo walang armas na dala, so hindi nila binaril. Pero the following day, nakita nila ulit, the same child may bitbit nang armas, nakipagbarilan sa tropa natin, kaya walang choice,” said Brawner.
Many have denounced the use of children in the war as un-Islamic
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Assemblyman Zia Alonto Adiong, spokesman of the Provincial Crisis Management Committee, said the Maute group is not respectful in using children as their warriors.
He said they are not obeying the Protocols to the 1949 Geneva Conventions that prohibits the use of children in war.
The International Criminal Court (2002) prohibits government-controlled armed forces and non-state armed groups from using children as fighters. It was reaffirmed in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), which also defined a child for the first time as any person under the age of 18.
“They are not really into obeying. This is illegal, immoral and anti-Islamic,” Adiong said.