Study Presented in Controversial UST Forum Reveals Patterns of Youth Recruitment, Radicalization

MANILA—An academic colloquium at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) of the Philippine experience in terror grooming organized by the National Security Council (NSC) drew both academic interest and controversy after student activists denounced the participation of government-linked speakers and former rebels.

Held on November 6, 2025, the event featured a presentation of a research study conducted by the Buklod Kapayapaan Federation Inc., the national federation of former cadres and members of the Communist Party of the Philippines–New People’s Army–National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF). Their study, titled “Drawing the Line Between Radicalization and Activism: Case Studies in the Philippine Setting,” was presented by Arian Jane Ramos, Buklod Kapayapaan’s Head of Legal Affairs and herself a former CPP-NPA cadre.

Ramos said the study explores how Filipino students become involved in the underground movement through a multi-stage process. Drawing from fifteen life-history interviews with former rebels recruited during their high-school or college years, the research identified a recurring pattern, from participation in legal youth organizations, to ideological indoctrination, emotional immersion in communities, and eventually, full participation in the armed struggle.

According to Ramos, the preliminary findings aim to distinguish legitimate activism from covert recruitment, and to inform peace-building through education and transparency. “The study situates radicalization within psychological, sociological, and community contexts,” she explained during the colloquium. “It’s not about silencing activism but understanding where engagement becomes exploitation.”

Photo from The Varsitarian

Protests, Defense Before the Forum

The event had courted controversy even before it began. On November 5, members of Kabataan Partylist, Panday Sining, and Anakbayan staged a protest at UST’s Dapitan Gate, condemning what they called the university’s “collaboration” with the NSC and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). The self-ascribed progressive groups accused the organizers of promoting “state propaganda” and “red-tagging” under the guise of academic inquiry.

In response, Noel Legaspi, Buklod Kapayapaan president, said in a Facebook post that while concerns about red-tagging were valid, “their pre-emptive rejection of the forum as an act of malicious propaganda is an irrational and intellectually shallow response that forecloses a crucial opportunity for engagement.”

Meanwhile, the NTF-ELCAC clarified that it was not formally involved in the UST-led activity. “We view such academic platforms as essential to addressing concerns about extremist recruitment targeting youth,” the task force said, adding that firsthand research on the CPP’s radicalization process “offers valuable perspective for safeguarding students.”

Heated, But ‘Misleading’ Online Reactions 

After the colloquium, UST student attendee Raven Kristine Racelis criticized the event online, calling it “a fascist state propaganda machine disguised as research.” She alleged that the speakers portrayed youth activism as “ideological grooming” and accused them of “using education as psychological warfare against students.”

Legaspi also, however, said that the “usual criticisms” from the “usual camps” clearly misunderstood, or are purposely misleading the intent of the study. Based on the study, iInitial data reveal several patterns of concern:

• Mean Recruitment Age – 17.1: Many respondents were first approached while still minors or just turning of legal age, falling under child-protection definitions for recruitment by armed groups.

  
  

• Mean Age of NPA Entry – 22.4: The average age of joining the armed movement coincides with what international labor research calls the transition to the workforce, when most young adults face precarity and uncertainty.

  
  

• Radicalization Window – 3 to 5 Years: From first contact to armed participation, the process often spans the same length as a college degree. A student can thus enter university at 17 and, without guidance or protection, join the NPA by graduation.

Ramos, in her presentation, refrained from naming specific “legal organizations,” saying that the study focused instead on “patterns and processes.” Respondents admitted that initial involvement often began with legal youth groups, followed by recruitment into underground mass organizations (UGMOs) such as Kabataang Makabayan, which serve as covert networks supporting the CPP-NPA.

The study said that when viewed together, the 15 respondents’ stories form an “emerging five-step pattern” of radicalization:

1. Campus advocacy – Participation in legitimate student causes and social-justice campaigns.

2. Ideological education – Gradual exposure to revolutionary study sessions framing societal issues through a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist lens.

3. Immersion – Community exposure that evokes moral outrage and deepens belief in armed struggle.

4. Urban underground work – Transition to clandestine organizing and party discipline, isolating members from their previous lives.

5. NPA involvement – Full integration into the armed movement, driven by conviction, fear, or loyalty.

   
   

Ramos underscored that these findings are “patterns, not accusations,” meant to help schools, families, and policymakers recognize early signs of recruitment and protect young people from exploitation. 

Buklod Kapayapaan says the full study is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2026.