Cultural Center of the Philippines
Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino
February 21, 2020
The play talks about the complex relationships between our Muslim and Christian brothers, and how these affect the lives of the children in the region.
Batang Mujahideen follows a story of Fatima, a 7-year old Yakan (A Filipino ethnolinguistic group living primarily in Basilan) girl, who witnessed the March 2000 Abu Sayyaf kidnapping of priests, teachers and students in Basilan. The girl child who refuses to speak after the killing is eventually recruited to be a Batang Mujihad after being transformed into a Boy Child. As she was trained to be a child warrior, she witnesssed the interplay of revenge and counter revenge.