Bad Blood: Militia Abuses in Mindanao

This report, based on a five-week visit to Mindanao in January and February 1992, provides fresh evidence that the military has failed to control its militia, the Citizen Armed Force — Geographical Units (CAFGU). Asia Watch confirms those concerns expressed in earlier reports that the military has contravened its own guidelines in recruiting members with records of criminal or abusive behavior and in permitting militia to engage in arrests, interrogations and active combat. Bad Blood implicates the CAFGU in dozens of killings, and in cases of beatings, arbitrary arrest and harassment of poor tribes people and peasants in the rural provinces of Bukidnon, Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur and Surigao del Sur. Abuses continue not only in areas of military conflict, but also in areas where the insurgency no longer poses a threat. Moreover, findings suggest that many more abuses may be occurring than have been reported, in areas most remote from the public eye.