Starting Points: Maguindanao

Mar 12, 2010

Philippines: Protect Witnesses to Maguindanao Massacre

Image by thepocnet via Flickr

Two Relatives of Witnesses Killed; Many Suspects Remain at Large

March 8, 2010

(New York) - Philippine authorities should act swiftly to protect eyewitnesses to the November 2009 massacre of at least 57 people in Maguindanao province on Mindanao, and to protect their families as well, Human Rights Watch said today.

Concerns for the safety of witnesses are highlighted by the killings of two relatives of witnesses and the shooting of a third; the large number of police, military, and paramilitary personnel implicated in the massacre who remain at large; and lax security measures that allowed one suspect to escape detention, Human Rights Watch said.

"Witnesses won't come forward if there is a ‘second Maguindanao massacre' of witnesses and their families," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The government needs to act quickly to protect witnesses and their relatives, and to arrest and securely detain the remaining suspects."

On November 23, 2009, in the town of Ampatuan, Maguindanao, Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, dozens of gunmen stopped a convoy that was en route to file Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael "Toto" Mangudadatu's candidacy for the upcoming Maguindanao gubernatorial elections. The gunmen summarily executed at least 57 people, including Mangudadatu family members and supporters, bystanders, and more than 30 media workers.

Those charged with the killings include members of the local governing family, the Ampatuans, together with police, military, and paramilitary personnel. Andal Ampatuan Jr., mayor of Datu Unsay and son of the Maguindanao governor, Andal Ampatuan Sr., is the lead suspect in the case. He was charged on December 1, 2009; he is in custody while his bail hearing continues.

Several eyewitnesses have come forward to testify about the massacre.

On February 21, 2010, the elder brother of one suspect-turned-witness, Police Officer 1 Rainier Ebus, was shot multiple times in Datu Piang and severely wounded. According to credible sources that could not be confirmed, Ampatuan's men had offered Ebus 5 million pesos (over US$100,000) to recant his witness statement. The brother was shot after he refused to do so.

Credible sources also told Human Rights Watch that another witness was offered 25 million pesos (over US$500,000) to recant his signed witness statement. He refused. Within weeks of testifying in court, two of his family members were shot dead. The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) told Human Rights Watch that local police were investigating these crimes.

A member of the Ampatuan paramilitary forces told Human Rights Watch that the Ampatuans have placed a bounty on the heads of those who cooperate with investigators to testify against the Ampatuan family. He said that in late 2009, men linked to the Ampatuan family ordered him to kill one of the men involved in the massacre. The paramilitary force member said he escaped the Ampatuan fold after hearing that he was the next to be killed. He said he has learned that there is a 2 million peso (over US$40,000) bounty on his head.

Human Rights Watch urged the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to thoroughly and transparently investigate these killings and acts of intimidation against witnesses. To the extent that jailed Ampatuan family members are implicated, the NBI should investigate the Philippine authorities responsible for their custody.

The Justice Department, on February 9, filed charges against 197 people for 57 counts of murder on February 9, 2010. Arrest warrants have yet to be issued due to judicial delays, though some of those implicated are in custody charged with other crimes.

Of the 197 charged, 63 are police officers. Forty-nine of these police officers are under "restrictive custody"; the remaining 14 are "absent without leave." A Criminal Investigation and Detection Group spokesperson told Human Rights Watch that firearms are confiscated from police officers under restrictive custody and the officers are largely restricted to the police camp, though they can leave under guard. They remain on active duty and can be assigned administrative tasks.

Human Rights Watch questioned the effectiveness of this custody status since at least one police suspect, Anwar Masukat, escaped restrictive custody in late December or early January, reportedly swore an affidavit recanting his witness statement, and is now missing. Masukat had initially provided a signed statement implicating Ampatuan Jr. as the leader of the Maguindanao massacre. In his new statement, he pointed instead to another police witness as the massacre's mastermind. The Investigation Group spokesperson told Human Rights Watch that Masukat escaped restrictive custody while en route from Camp Crame, in Manila, to his unit in Maguindanao.

The threat to witnesses is highlighted by the government's lax detention of a suspect in custody, Human Rights Watch said. Retired Police Superintendent Piang Adam, the former Maguindanao provincial police director, escaped from the Sultan Kudarat Provincial Jail in Tacurong City between February 16 and 17. The Sultan Kudarat provincial police director, Senior Superintendent Suharto Teng Tocao, is a relative of Adam, and his jail guard, Taha Kadalum, was his cousin and has since been charged in relation to the escape.

Following this escape, the Philippine police chief, Director General Jesus Verzosa, ordered tighter security on all jail facilities and noted the need for a review of security systems and procedures. Human Rights Watch called on Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno to carry out an urgent review of the detention arrangements of all those implicated in the Maguindanao massacre and publicly report on the findings and measures taken.

Human Rights Watch stressed the need for stronger witness protection measures to ensure, in keeping with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's statement of November 25, 2009, that "the perpetrators [of the Maguindanao massacre] will not escape justice."

The United Nations special envoy on extrajudicial executions, Philip Alston, recommended in 2007 that the government ensure protection for persons who testify in killings for as long as they are at risk, and that they be provided housing and other assistance to ensure their security and well-being. Human Rights Watch made similar recommendations in its 2007 and 2009 reports about extrajudicial killings. None of these recommendations have been implemented.

Human Rights Watch called on the Arroyo administration to provide sufficient funding to ensure adequate protection for witnesses and their families, and urged the government to promptly investigate acts of witness intimidation and killing, and to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice. Security forces and the Justice Department should take the measures needed to protect their physical safety, including relocation where necessary, and ensure that witnesses and their families are afforded appropriate housing. Witnesses who are themselves implicated in the killings should be appropriately - and safely - detained prior to trial.

Human Rights Watch also urged the Philippine Congress to increase significantly the penalties for intimidating or assaulting a witness. Currently, intimidating a witness incurs a fine of not more than 3,000 pesos (US$65) or imprisonment of six months to one year, or both. Offenses against intimidating witnesses should also be expanded to include offenses against their relatives.

"President Arroyo has a long way to go to live up to her promise that the perpetrators of the Maguindanao massacre do not escape justice," Pearson said. "The legacy of her administration will depend in great measure on the outcome of this horrific case."

Feb 23, 2010

Filipino Politicians Wield Private Armies, Despite Ban

By NORIMITSU ONISHI

Published: February 20, 2010

REINA REGENTE, the Philippines — Tata Uy and a dozen members of his militia were milling around their base, a bullet-pocked mosque on a hill overlooking forests and farmland here in the southern Philippines. Mr. Uy pointed to a spot a couple of miles away where gunmen loyal to his uncle were holed up.

Jes Aznar for The New York Times

A member of a militia formed by Tata Uy, whose family owns farmland in Reina Regente, in the southern Philippines.

As one of his men patrolled the area on a water buffalo, a rifle slung over his shoulder, Mr. Uy (pronounced OO-ey) explained that he and his uncle had a falling out four years ago. But skirmishes escalated to full-blown fighting last year after he made it clear that he intended to run against his uncle, a local mayor, in an election this year.

The decision was not an easy one. “He’s my uncle, after all,” said Mr. Uy, 40, adding that it was not made any easier by his uncle’s vow to kill him.

He has now built up his militia to 40 men. “If it weren’t for my private army,” he said, “I’d be dead by now.”

Mr. Uy is a rare politician in the Philippines, one who does not deny having a private army. As the country prepares for nationwide elections in May, politicians are expected to use these militias, as they have in the past, to safeguard their interests, intimidate rivals, rig votes and perpetuate the control of family dynasties throughout the country.

But even as half a dozen political candidates have been assassinated throughout the country in recent weeks, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has pledged to eradicate private armies by Election Day. Critics are skeptical, though, not just because previous governments have failed at similar attempts.

They say they doubt Mrs. Arroyo’s sincerity, pointing to her government’s past support of private armies and saying that she was only responding to the international outcry over one of the country’s worst acts of political violence. In November, in a town not far from here, militiamen loyal to the powerful Ampatuan clan — staunch Arroyo allies — massacred 57 people, including journalists and relatives of a political rival to the Ampatuans. The clan’s patriarch and several of his sons were indicted this month.

Private armies have flourished especially here on Mindanao, the country’s southernmost major island, where Muslim and Communist insurgents have battled the military for decades and American soldiers have hunted for members of Abu Sayyaf, the terrorist group, since 2002. Philippine governments have supported local politicians with private armies to help suppress insurgents and Islamic radicals, and these conflicts often become inextricably linked with clan warfare.

An independent commission established to disband the private armies has identified 74 of them, though other government officials have said twice as many exist. They operate in areas that are home to 7.8 million registered voters, out of a national total of 50 million, said Dante Jimenez, a member of the commission.

“If we don’t contain the private armies, there is the risk that there won’t be fair elections in these hot spots,” Mr. Jimenez said. “In a tight presidential election, the private armies in one region could tip the balance.”

That is precisely what is believed to have happened in 2004 when Mrs. Arroyo was in a close race for the presidency. Widespread fraud occurred here in the southern province of Maguindanao, the fief of the Ampatuans, the clan accused of being behind the November massacre.

Here in Reina Regente, a barangay or village in Maguindanao, the feud between the nephew and uncle began four years ago, according to the nephew, news media reports, local politicians and officials with a neutral cease-fire monitoring group. The uncle, Samir Uy, could not be reached for comment.

Early last decade, the uncle appointed the nephew as chief of another district village — technically an elected position.

“In Mindanao, the mayors choose the barangay chiefs and expect them to follow orders,” said Don Mangansakan, 31, the vice mayor of Pikit, a nearby town. “Tata didn’t listen to the wishes of his uncle, who got rid of him. It’s as simple as that.”

Further defying his uncle, Tata Uy ran unsuccessfully for chief in Reina Regente, his hometown, where his family is the largest landowner, with 124 acres. He said he began forming his own militia, spending $65,000 to buy 45 weapons over the years and recruiting 40 men, including some who worked on his land.

Such a force would rank as medium-size, said Mr. Jimenez of the commission. There are only a handful of truly large private armies — like the 400- to 600-member force belonging to the Ampatuans — all of them concentrated here in the south.

Experts say private armies are typically composed of moonlighting police officers, soldiers, Muslim rebels and average citizens. In 2006, Mrs. Arroyo issued an executive order that made it easier for local politicians to form private armies, or “civilian volunteer organizations,” to battle Muslim insurgents. But one result was that it also allowed ambitious clans to build up militias rapidly for their own use.

Here, family feuds not only become a proxy for the battle between the military and Muslim insurgents, but also fuel that conflict. In Mr. Uy’s case, he began developing ties with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a rebel group that advocates secession, though he says he is not part of the insurgency. His uncle has been allied with the government and the military.

In May, after Mr. Uy unequivocally stated his goal of unseating his uncle as the local mayor, his tractor ended up at the bottom of a river. That message was soon followed by two weeks of fighting with guns and mortars, pitting his uncle’s private army and the military against the nephew’s militia and hundreds of fighters from the Moro rebel group.

Most of Reina Regente’s 500 families fled, joining the thousands of refugees from other clashes in overcrowded camps.

Nowadays, Tata Uy said, he is preparing for the start of the campaign next month and is continuing to buy weapons with his farming profits. He said he had heard about the president’s campaign to ban private armies. “It’s a good idea,” he said, pausing, “but it’s not going to work.”

Critics of Mrs. Arroyo, who cannot run again because of term limits, said she had rejected demands to rescind her executive order easing the creation of militias, raising questions about her effort against private armies.

“If she was serious, she would have tried to do something about the private armies sooner,” said Alex B. Brillantes Jr., a political scientist at the University of the Philippines in Manila. “It’s too little, too late.”