ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews / 10 May 2026) — What is a radical? A radical is someone who refuses to accept appearances at face value. To be radical is to examine situations and conditions beyond what is visible, to take a deep dive into the underlying currents and root causes. A radical sees the trees without missing the forest, perceives the effects and trajectories of a given situation, and dares to ask the questions no one else is asking. Albert Einstein was a radical. Because he was radical, he discovered relativity, a breakthrough that propelled humanity forward. Because he was radical, he challenged us to think differently, reminding us of the folly of repetition when he said: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
The word “radical” itself comes from the Latin radix, meaning “root.” To be radical is to go to the root of problems, not just their surface symptoms. Philosophical Notes describes radicalism as a political ideology that seeks fundamental changes to social, economic, and political structures. In this sense, radicalization is not about extremism but about root‑level discovery — exposing what does not work, what hinders development, and what must be transformed. This original meaning reminds us that radicalism is about depth, truth, and courage, not destruction.
Dr. Jose Rizal, our national hero, was also a radical. He advanced medicine and the sciences, but more importantly, he dissected the social classes of Spanish colonial society. Rizal opened the eyes of the indio to how they were being oppressed and controlled by the Spanish colonizers. His radical critique, “Noli Me Tangere” and “El Filibustersimo,” shook the foundations of colonial rule and inspired a nation to imagine freedom. In Dapitan, Rizal attempted to cure the blindness of Josephine Bracken’s adoptive father, George Taufer. But beyond curing blindness of the eyes, Rizal sought to cure the blindness of the Filipino spirit, awakening his people to see injustice and struggle for change.
The UNDP 2016 Framework: The Radical Pathways
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in its 2016 framework, explains radicalization as a process driven by structural conditions: political exclusion, economic inequality, corruption, social injustice, and disparities between ethnic or religious groups. When people are denied participation, opportunity, and fairness, radicalization becomes a natural response. Radicalization is not a pathology to be feared. It is an essential step in discovering truths, identifying what does not work, and exposing what hinders development. Radicalization is the process by which societies confront their failures and chart new trajectories.
The danger lies not in radicalization itself, but in whether societies allow radical energy to be expressed through peaceful advocacy or suppress it until it erupts destructively. Radicalization expands the options of the people. For the poor, once radicalized, the option is to demand justice; to organize, to contest inequality, and to insist that ayuda is not destiny. For the student, once radicalized, the option is to question authority, to challenge outdated systems, and to imagine emerging future beyond blind obedience inside the four walls of a classroom. For Sara Duterte, once radicalized, the option is to carve out a vision for negotiated peace and structural reform to address corruption. For Leni Robredo, once radicalized, the option is to move beyond populism (something she may have already begun to model in Naga City) and to insist on deeper structural change. In each case, radicalization is not destruction; it is the expansion of choices, the opening of possibilities, the refusal to accept that “things will never change.”
Lessons from Patikul, Sulu: A Challenge to the AFP
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF‑ELCAC), however, often frame radicalization as synonymous with extremism and insurgency. This perspective reduces radicalization to a threat, ignoring its potential as a force for peaceful advocacy and reform. Ironically, the AFP itself needs to be radicalized. It must be willing to question entrenched doctrines, confront corruption within its own ranks, and imagine new ways of engaging communities beyond militarized responses. To be radical, for the AFP, would mean embracing reform and rethinking its role not just as a defender of the state, but as a partner in building a just and inclusive society.
I saw this firsthand in Patikul, Sulu, working with ten balik‑barangays together with the 35th Infantry Battalion of the 11th Division of the Philippine Army assigned in the area. During my over one-year integration in the area, images and narratives that explain why the municipality became host to the defunct Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) naturally came to fore. I saw evidences of why peace fails, like the two‑story building intended to be a learning school for former ASG combatants, left unused because of the lack of a clear program and resources. We also chanced upon an elderly woman living alone in a dilapidated makeshift house. I challenged the Brigade Commander to help rebuild the houses of elderlies living alone, to make structures safer for the aged. I suggested they could lead a bayanihan one house per week. And I said, “If you can do this, you will be the new New People’s Army.” (Read: https://mindanews.com/feature/2025/07/forgotten-grandmothers-from-a-war-gone-by/)
As of this writing, I have no information if they were able to do this. But efforts to reconstruct the communities affected by the war against the ASG were underway guided by a rehabilitation and reconstruction plan drafted in 2025 by the members of the barangays with the assistance from the peace builders of the Bridging Leadership Associates in Sulu, supported by the UNDP Program on Stabilization, Peacebuilding, and Resilience (PROSPER). That is what radicalization demands from the AFP: not just defending territory, but reimagining the role of the military as a builder of peace and dignity.
To rebuild houses for the forgotten is to cure the blindness of institutions like Rizal did. To address the root cause of insurgency, or of extremism, way before a “search and destroy” armed operation becomes necessary is radical. Such is the way of a radical peace builder.
A Path Forward
History reminds us that the Philippines was built by radicals. The revolutionaries who fought against colonial rule, the workers who organized for fair wages, the women who claimed their right to vote: All were radicals in their time. They were not terrorists; they were trailblazers. Their radical ideas reshaped society and expanded freedoms. Without them, there would be no nation to defend.
The UNDP framework offers a different path: inclusive development, tolerance, and respect for diversity. These are the keys to steering radical energy toward peaceful advocacy rather than violence. To be radical is not to be reckless. It is to be courageous enough to dream, bold enough to contest, and committed enough to act.
The Philippines does not need fewer radicals. It needs more; more citizens unafraid to imagine a better future, more movements daring to demand change, more voices willing to challenge the status quo. Radicalization is not the fire that burns down society; it is the light that reveals the path forward.
(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Jules L. Benitez is part of the Bridging Leaders Associate working with UNDP Program on Stabilization, Peacebuilding, and Resilience (PROSPER), and the Municipal Taskforce ELAC in Patikul, Sulu to rehabilitate and reconstruct 10 Balik-barangays in a post-ASG War.)
