ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the conditions facing rural populations in Mindanao through the experiences of former underage soldiers, who under international definitions would also be considered victims of human trafficking. Although there are several non-state military groups known to have used underage soldiers, the primary focus will be on the CPP-NPA (Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army) as this is the group where my participants had been enlisted. Two life narratives are presented from NPA combatants who enlisted as underage soldiers. A discussion of the history of conflict in the Philippines, rural poverty and poverty as a subjective/objective reality, and childhood as a factor for defining human trafficking set the background for many experiences of trafficking in the Philippines. This chapter contributes to the discussion of structural violence in Mindanao by describing the realities of rural life including the massive disparities between rural and urban communities. The experiences of underage soldiers are points where the relationships between structural and physical violence become clearly manifest. This relationship is also significant in then understanding the ways that rural poverty can be a risk factor for most other types of human trafficking in Mindanao.
