I. Background

The Legacy of Violence in Mindanao

The Philippines’ main southern island of Mindanao has been a focal point for insurgencies and conflict since the beginning of the American colonial period at the turn of the twentieth century.[1] The Muslim population, known as Moros, makes up more than 20 percent of Mindanao, and have long resisted encroachment by the predominantly Christian majority.[2]

Since Philippine independence in 1946, armed conflict between Moro armed groups and the Philippine government have continued with varying levels of intensity.

In the 1970s Moro secessionists formed a separatist movement, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), which later splintered, creating the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).[3] Since then, armed confrontations between the government and Moro armed groups have resulted in the death of an estimated 120,000 people, mostly civilians, and the displacement of some two million more.[4]

Negotiations in the 1980s led to the creation of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in 1990, discussed below.[5] After a resurgence of violence in 2008, a shaky ceasefire was forged in 2009. At this writing, the Aquino government and the MILF are preparing to engage in peace negotiations.[6]

Violence in Mindanao has taken many forms. Mindanao was a stronghold of the Communist New People’s Army (NPA) from the late 1970s until the mid-1980s, when it was confronted not only by the army and militia forces, but by abusive state-supported “vigilante groups” such as Alsa Masa (“Masses Arise”).[7] A radical Islamist group, Abu Sayyaf, emerged in the 1990s. All of these forces continue to perpetrate numerous serious human rights abuses—including abductions, torture and killings—against suspected adversaries and ordinary civilians in Mindanao.

In Mindanao, as elsewhere in the Philippines, wealthy and politically powerful families have sought to defend and expand their holdings through the use of so-called private armies. While the size, composition, and strength of these forces varies considerably, their designation as “private” is a misnomer. They frequently consist of state-endorsed paramilitary forces and unofficial militia forces and have the direct support of local police and military personnel.

Nowhere in Mindanao in recent years have the complexities of these volatile forces been as evident as in the case of the Ampatuans, the most powerful ruling family in Maguindanao province.[8] The Ampatuans, who are themselves Muslims, have been a loyal ally of successive national governments against Moro separatists. Fighting between the Ampatuans and MILF leaders has at times been treated as rido, or clan conflict, but the actual situation is more complex.[9] Ampatuan family members and other Maguindanao residents said that the conflict developed because the Ampatuans are identified with the government forces, because the Ampatuans perpetrate human rights abuses, and because they target emerging Moro leaders who are considered a threat to their power.[10]

Human rights abuses by local officials backed by private armies continue to be a factor in drawing individuals into the MILF.[11] A November 2004 confidential AFP memorandum on the effects of family feuds in Maguindanao reportedly stated that communities pillaged and looted by CVO and Special CAFGU members “often seek protection of the MILF because they perceive the military to be partial to the Ampatuans and his political allies.”[12] Human Rights Watch documented several cases in which victims of militia abuses joined the MILF. An MILF commander, “Commander Rustam,” told Human Rights Watch: “Many people seek refuge from the Ampatuans [with] the MILF.”[13] For example, “Fayyad” evacuated from Datu Piang and sought protection in an MILF community after three of his relatives were killed in 2002 and 2003, allegedly by the Ampatuans and CAFGU members working for them. He told Human Rights Watch that he still cannot leave the MILF community in which he resides to go into Datu Piang town center or Cotabato City without escort.[14]

The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM)

The ARMM officially came into being on November 6, 1990, after plebiscites took place in several provinces and cities in accordance with the Organic Act 1989.[15] Autonomy essentially arose out of the December 23, 1976 Tripoli agreement, which ended the 1971-76 separatist conflict. The ARMM comprises five provinces: Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, and Basilan, and one city, Marawi.[16] It is the most impoverished region in the Philippines.[17]

Cotabato City, which is predominantly Moro, is located within the boundaries of Maguindanao, but is independent of the province and is not part of the ARMM.[18]

The ARMM government operates with a degree of autonomy. However, the president of the Philippines exercises general supervision over the regional governor to ensure that his acts are within the scope of his powers and functions, and has the power to suspend him.[19] Additionally, the national government provides provincial, municipal, and city governments in the ARMM with the vast share of their annual budget via the internal revenue allocation (IRA), creating a financial dependence that greatly limits autonomy.

Executive power in the ARMM is vested in the elected regional governor, assisted by a cabinet.[20] The regional legislative assembly has the power to legislate “for the benefit of the people and for the development of the region.”[21] This power does not extend to issues such as national security and administration of justice, though it may legislate on matters relating to Sharia (Islamic law).

The Philippine government and MILF peace panels are currently preparing to negotiate an agreement that is expected to enhance ARMM autonomy by increasing both its geographical bounds and its political and economic powers. The peace panels negotiated such an agreement, the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain, in 2008. However, prior to the signing, scheduled for August 2008 in Malaysia, the Supreme Court of the Philippines issued a temporary restraining order blocking it, on the petition of local and national Christian political leaders. In October 2008, the court ruled the agreement unconstitutional.[22] The agreement’s collapse has been cited as one of the causes of renewed fighting in central Mindanao in 2008 to 2009.

The Rise of the Ampatuans

The Ampatuan family is a Moro clan that lives in Maguindanao province. Under successive Philippine administrations since the 1980s, the Ampatuans have consolidated power and, over time, acquired control over the political, security and commercial life of Maguindanao. Andal Ampatuan, Sr., the family patriarch, was the governor of Maguindanao from 2001 to 2009. His sons and other family members have held numerous elected and appointed government offices. Most notably, Zaldy Ampatuan was the elected regional governor of the ARMM from 2005-2009 and Andal Ampatuan, Jr., commonly known as Datu Unsay, was the mayor of Datu Unsay municipality from 2004-2010. A family tree has been included to illustrate diagrammatically the relationships among key members of Andal Ampatuan, Sr.’s immediate family.

Andal Ampatuan, Sr. first entered local politics in Maguindanao in the 1970s, following President Ferdinand Marcos’s declaration of martial law in the country. During this period, the military perpetrated widespread human rights violations throughout the Philippines. Ampatuan, Sr. went from commander of a paramilitary unit to vice mayor and then mayor of Maganoy (now Shariff Aguak), a municipality in Maguindanao. Two years after the 1986 “People Power Revolution” drove Marcos from power, Ampatuan, Sr. was reelected mayor of Maganoy in an election plagued by violence.[23] For example, on December 30, 1987, unidentified armed men ambushed the campaign manager of Ampatuan’s chief rival Surab Abutazil, and his two companions.[24] In January 1988, an election aide was shot dead by unidentified assailants.[25] And on January 5, 1990, Abutazil was shot dead in broad daylight in the Maganoy town center after having challenged the legality of Ampatuan, Sr.’s reelection.[26]

Several residents of Maguindanao alleged that since the late 1980s the Ampatuans gained commercial power by using threats and unlawful force to acquire land.[27] “Hassan,” a former resident of Shariff Aguak, who said he was once close with Ampatuan, Sr., told Human Rights Watch, “He would give the landowner two options: allow him to buy the land for 10,000 pesos (US$220) or choose the bullet.”[28] “Kedtog,” a former community leader in barangay Kuloy[29] said that in 1988:

We were called for a meeting with Andal Ampatuan, Sr. Inside, on a table was a .45 caliber pistol and a sum of money put side by side in front of the old man [Ampatuan, Sr.]. We were asked which of the two we would choose... In Kuloy, almost all the villagers were forced to leave. There were thousands of hectares… They built fences around the [land] which [was taken].[30]

Kedtog said that he did not go to the meeting with Ampatuan, Sr. out of fear, but that his 5½ hectares of land was still forcibly taken. Only two landowners actually attended such meetings and “chose” the nominal payment.[31] One landowner that attended such a meeting, “Akil,” said that he chose to take the money, fearing he would be killed if he did not.[32]

Through his lawyers, Ampatuan, Sr. denied any allegations of forcible takeover of land, saying that the properties owned by the Ampatuan family have been “acquired through lawful transactions evidenced by contracts and duly issued titles.”[33]

In the early 1990s, the vice mayor of Maganoy, Paglala Bantilan, and several of his family members and supporters were killed after he announced he would contest Ampatuan, Sr. in the next election.[34] Those responsible were never brought to trial.

These killings and many other serious crimes allegedly carried out by Ampatuan family members were reported to President Arroyo in a May 2002 letter, some of which are detailed below:[35]

• In July 1992, more than 20 men in fatigue uniforms armed with rifles and allegedly commanded by “Commander Beri”—the head of Ampatuan, Sr.’s militia at the time—shot and killed a candidate for local government and his six-year-old child, and wounded his seven-year-old child while they slept in their home in Maganoy (now Shariff Aguak), Maguindanao.[36] The victim, Haji Usop Akmad, had run for municipal councilor in the May 1992 elections.[37] CAFGUs allegedly killed another of Akmad’s sons later that year.[38]
• In February 1994 Ampatuan, Sr. allegedly killed Garcia Upahm in barangay Makir, Dinaig town (now Datu Odin Sinsuat). According to a witness, he had been sitting with Upahm in a kiosk along the National Highway in Makir when the nearly 50-vehicle convoy—including about six police cars—of Ampatuan, Sr. passed by. According to the witness, Ampatuan, Sr. “got out of the vehicle and shot [and killed] Garcia with his .45 caliber pistol. He then got back inside his car and drove on to Cotabato City.”[39]
• On March 14, 1994, Zaldy Ampatuan allegedly gunned down cousins Akas Paglala and Rashid Mamalantong, Vice Mayor Bantilan’s son, at a gas station in Cotabato City.[40]

The Ampatuan family gained significant power when Ampatuan, Sr. was elected governor of Maguindanao in 2001, despite accusations of electoral fraud.[41] He consolidated his power by giving family members various positions in the province and isolating mayors he did not consider loyal.[42] He was reelected governor in 2004 and ran unopposed in 2007.[43] Until the 2007 elections, the majority of Maguindanao’s 27 mayors were the sons, grandsons, or other relatives of Ampatuan, Sr.[44] Newspaper reports quoted Ampatuan, Sr. as saying this dominance was due to “popular support…. Because I am so loved by the constituencies of the municipalities, they ask me to have my sons as representatives.”[45] He added that “not a single candidate from the opposition dared to challenge his slate.”[46] In 2007, all but one of the town mayors allied with Ampatuan, Sr. ran unopposed.[47]

On June 9, 2007, the Maguindanao schools district supervisor, Musa Dimasidsing, who had exposed alleged election fraud, was shot dead in a madrasah (Islamic school) in Maguindanao during a brief power outage.[48] No one has been prosecuted for his killing.

The Ampatuan family took advantage of Zaldy Ampatuan’s position as governor of the ARMM and their influence over the regional assembly to create new municipalities and strengthen their control over the region.[49] In 2009, the Regional Assembly created the municipalities of Datu Hoffer, Datu Salibo, and Shariff Saydona Mustapha. Zaldy Ampatuan used his power as regional governor to appoint officers-in-charge, including his wife, Bongbong Midtimbang Ampatuan, as acting mayor of Datu Hoffer Ampatuan; Akmad Ampatuan as acting mayor of Datu Salibo; and his sister-in-law, Ampatuan, Jr.’s wife, Zandria Ampatuan, as acting mayor of Shariff Saydona Mustapha. Each of these Ampatuans was elected in the May 2010 elections.

The arrests that followed the November 2009 Maguindanao massacre appear to have weakened, but by no means eliminated, Ampatuan power in the region. As a result of the May 2010 elections, 8 of the 34 mayors in Maguindanao carry the Ampatuan name; still others are related to Ampatuan, Sr.[50] Only 6 of the 29 Ampatuan family members and allies accused of involvement in the massacre are in custody: Andal Ampatuan, Sr., his sons, Andal Jr., Zaldy, Anwar Sr., Sajid Islam, and son-in-law Akmad “Tato” Ampatuan.

Paramilitary Forces and Private Armies

It would not be right to say “private armies,” they are paramilitary units.... They are created, armed, and funded by the government.

—A senior member of the Ampatuan family, General Santos City, February 21, 2010.

[Local governments] create civilian armed groups, thereby providing a cloak of legitimacy to the action of these groups who are presumed to be acting in accordance with their official duties, when more often than not they simply do the bidding of their political godfathers.

—Justice Monina Averalo-Zenarosa, Chair of the Independent Commission Against Private Armies, May 5, 2010.

State-supported militias have existed in the Philippines since the late 1940s.[51] The government organized these paramilitary forces to defend against communist insurgents— first the Hukbalahap and later the New People’s Army—and Moro separatist forces. Frequently, the army or police deployed them in offensive operations. Whatever their guise or official status, these militias have been responsible for widespread abuses against suspected rebels and ordinary civilians. Despite this, successive Philippine governments have taken no serious steps to either dismantle or disarm the militias on a large scale. Over the years only a few members have been prosecuted for abuses, and none of their commanders have ever been charged on the basis of command or superior responsibility.

In the 1960s, the paramilitary forces were called the Barrio Self-Defense Units. Later that decade, President Ferdinand Marcos replaced these units with the Integrated Civilian Home Defense Force, which was enlarged in 1976 to include the Civilian Home Defense Force (CHDF).[52] Each of these militias was implicated in numerous atrocities, though the CHDF was regarded as particularly brutal.[53]

The post-Marcos Constitution of 1987 provided for dismantling private armies and dissolving paramilitary forces.[54] Despite President Corazon Aquino’s July 1987 order that paramilitary units be dissolved within 180 days,the government merely replaced the CHDF with the Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU).[55] In 1989, the government instituted a Special CAFGU program, which allowed businesses to enter into memorandums of understanding with the armed forces to effectively employ CAFGUs as armed security guards.[56] Since then, CAFGU militiamen have been involved in serious human rights abuses.[57]

Anti-insurgent “vigilante groups” have operated alongside the militias since the mid-1980s. These armed groups have taken various forms, from small religious sects such as the Tadtad (literally “chop chop”) armed with bolo (machete)knives, to mass-based groups such as Alsa Masa (“Masses Arise”) in Davao City that had the open support of the authorities, including President Corazon Aquino.[58] The military increasingly armed and supported the vigilante groups with military weaponry and deployed them in offensive counterinsurgency operations, where they quickly became notorious for abuses and lack of accountability.[59]

In 1986, many vigilante groups were officially named Civilian Volunteer Organizations (CVOs) to give the appearance, if not the actual practice, of state regulation and control. The next year the Aquino government issued guidelines on Civilian Volunteer Self-Defense Organizations, ostensibly regulating the activities of such groups rather than disbanding them.[60] The Bantay Bayan(“People’s Guard”), the officially sanctioned CVO, was to be unarmed and was not to engage in counterinsurgency operations. These limits were not observed.[61] In practice, the Bantay Bayan continued to operate as an auxiliary armed force that was repeatedly implicated in abuses.[62]

In September 1993, President Fidel Ramos issued an administrative order seeking to dismantle private armies, acknowledging that “there are government officials and abusive personalities who utilize numerous AFP, PNP or civilian bodyguards, as security personnel to the consternation of the general public.”[63] He ordered the AFP and the PNP to evaluate “the tactical necessity of all community defense forces (e.g. CAFGUs, CVOs, etc.) organized according to law and immediately deactivate those which are no longer needed for counter-insurgency operations.”[64]

In 1996, President Ramos empowered city and municipal mayors in the National Capital Region to organize, support, and finance local police auxiliary units in response to an increasing crime problem in Manila.[65] However, these auxiliaries were not to be issued or to carry firearms, nor were they to be detailed or assigned as personal security of local officials.[66]

As the threat from the New People’s Army receded during the late 1990s, serious abuses by all sides declined. Successive Philippine administrations have publicly committed to disbanding CAFGUs, vigilante groups, and so-called private armies from time to time, but efforts have been cursory. In 1998, the AFP announced that CAFGUs were disbanded, but they remained active in rural areas.[67] In 2000, the CAFGU force still contained about 30,000 members.[68]

In July 2001, President Arroyo’s government announced that the CAFGU force would be “revitalized” in Mindanao to fight against the communist insurgency.[69] Today, the force comprises some 56,000 members.[70] In 2004, the Special CAFGU program was expanded to allow local governments, not just businesses, to contract Special CAFGUs.[71] The Arroyo administration also expanded and increasingly armed police auxiliary forces, comprised of members of CVOs and Police Auxiliary Units.

In 2006, President Arroyo issued Executive Order 546, following major fighting between the Ampatuans’ militia and the 105th command of the MILF from June 28 to July 6, 2006.[72] This was interpreted as legal grounds to arm CVOs, which were previously only authorized to carry “a baton and a flashlight.”[73] The order authorized police to assist the military in counterinsurgency operations and barangay tanods—unarmed, village-based law enforcement officers—to be used as “force multipliers,” supposedly under police control. CVOs were armed on a selective basis.[74]

In late 2006, the armed forces authorized four new Special CAFGU companies for the Ampatuans, each with 88 armed civilians and 12 soldiers.[75] In August 2008, when hostilities again erupted between the MILF and government forces, then Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno distributed more than 12,000 shotguns to police auxiliary forces in central Mindanao’s conflict-affected areas. The armed forces said that there were 2,000 Special CAFGU militiamen in Sultan Kudarat, North Cotabato, and Maguindanao at the time of the massacre on November 23, 2009.[76] Lt. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer, the AFP commander for Eastern Mindanao, told Human Rights Watch that in some areas, “CAFGUs make the problems worse because they are committing the abuse…. Relatives bring them in as body guards and use them to harass the opposition.”[77]

In practice, the various paramilitary forces created in Maguindanao fell under the command of the ruling Ampatuan family. The Special CAFGUs were contracted directly to the local government units, run by the Ampatuans. The police and police auxiliary forces reported directly to the Ampatuans rather than to the police command structure. These armed men were then converted into the Ampatuans’ private army, used not only to fight the MILF and the New People’s Army, but to do the bidding of local politicians.

While this report focuses on militia abuses in Maguindanao province, state-backed militias perpetrate abuses throughout much of Mindanao and elsewhere in the country. As Lieutenant General Ferrer told the media, abuse of power and “warlordism” is not a phenomenon limited to the Ampatuans:

[President Arroyo’s] party expelled the Ampatuans, and got the Mangudadatus…. Now they are allies with the Masturas. The Masturas are also warlords, right? (The Mangudadatus have) many guns, and they have allied themselves with the Sinsuats. Those people also have private armed groups, and they have not surrendered any firearms. Combine all their arms, and that’s another group of warlords.[78]

In its report to President Arroyo, the Independent Commission Against Private Armies highlighted the existence of such groups in Surigao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Davao City, Zamboanga del Norte, Tagum City, and Abra.[79] Nowhere do the authorities take adequate steps to investigate and prosecute militia abuses or the government officials who are responsible for their actions. A barangay official told Human Rights Watch, “The establishment of private armies of CVOs is an agreement between the government, the governor and the military. Almost all the mayors’ political clans have their own CVOs.”[80] A senior member of the Ampatuan family echoed this, saying, “In all other areas where there are insurgencies…. [governing families] are provided with CAFGUs and CVOs to promote peace and order in areas.”[81]