HUMAN Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday urged Philippine President Benigno Aquino 3rd to do more to break up private armed groups, three years after 58 people were killed in the country's worst political massacre.

The watchdog's Asia Director Brad Adams said that the government failed to disband dozens of so-called "private armies" following the November 23, 2009 massacre in Maguindanao province that was blamed on a powerful local clan.

"Three years since the horrors of the Maguindanao massacre, the trial crawls along, half of the suspects remain at large, and the victims' families still face threats," Adams said in a statement.

Communications Secretary Ramon “Ricky” Carandang said that police had carried out raids against such groups, leading to some arrests.

He cited an interior department report that showed only about 60 private armed groups remained, compared with 112 at the end of 2010.

Adams said that Aquino should revoke an order issued by his predecessor and now Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that authorized local officials to form and arm civilian paramilitary units to help law enforcers keep the peace in areas troubled by insurgencies.

HRW said that the order had been abused by many local officials in justifying their own "private armies" that he said they then used against political rivals.

The Ampatuan clan is accused of carrying out the 2009 massacre in their Maguindanao provincial stronghold to stop a rival, Esmael Mangudadatu, from running against one of its members in elections the following year.

The victims included Mangudadatu's wife and sister, their lawyers and a large group of journalists.

Philippine police said that 103 people have been arrested over the massacre, including the clan patriarch. However 92 other suspects remain at large.