President Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III is currently assessing the confidential report of the Zeñarosa Commission about private armies in the country, a Palace official said. In a press briefing on Wednesday, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said after studying the report, Aquino will decide whether to disclose the report to the public. "He's going through it right now and he will decide [whether to release it] after he finishes reading the commission report," Lacierda said. The Palace spokesman could not tell when the president will finish his review, saying the report is "very thick" and that there is also a supplementary report. The Zeñarosa Commission was created last year by then President Gloria Arroyo to recommend ways to dismantle private armies.The findings were submitted to the Aquino administration soon after it assumed power, but the report has not been made public. In a recent interview, Zeñarosa Commission member, retired general Edilberto Adan, said he was not authorized to release the report but its three recommendations were the following:
the creation of a permanent anti-Private Armed Groups task force, which Adan said was implemented; the crafting of a law imposing stiffer penalties on the maintenance of PAGs, and the abolition of a policy granting amnesties to wielders of loose firearms. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima earlier said the executive branch's review of the Zeñarosa Commission report consists of determining which recommendations it will adopt. Aquino is not in favor of abolishing civilian volunteer organizations or militia forces like the Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) because they augment military forces. However, he said he has tasked the Department of National Defense to "professionalize" or improve the skills and capabilities of militia forces so they will not fall under the control of local politicians, who sometimes make these units part of their private armies. There are more or less 50,000 militiamen currently under the command of local infantry divisions of the Philippine Army. Members of the Ampatuan clan and their private army— which reportedly includes civilian volunteer organizations (CVOs) — are accused of killing at least 57 people in the country's worst case of election-related violence in Maguindanao province on November 23, 2009. Aquino has vowed to crush private armies and to bring justice for victims of the massacre. – VVP, GMANews.TV 
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