( CNN ) -- A powerful family accused in what is considered the worst politically motivated killings in recent Philippine history has committed many other atrocities with impunity over two decades , a human rights group says . The Ampatuan family and its forces are `` one of the most powerful and abusive state-backed militias in the Philippines , '' says a new 96-page report released by Human Rights Watch , called `` They Own the People . '' The family 's `` many abuses '' include `` more than 50 incidences of killings , torture , sexual assault , and abductions and disappearances , '' according to the report . The executive secretary in the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo categorically denied the allegations leveled in the report , saying that the administration 's `` earnestness to promote , protect and fulfill human rights has always been clear , and not even the unceasing efforts of critics , including ill-prepared reports , will diminish or discredit it . '' Andal Ampatuan Jr. -- former mayor of Maguindanao province and the son of a former provincial governor -- is now on trial , accused of being the ringleader in the political massacre in Maguindanao . Ampatuan and his family have denied wrongdoing . Dozens of people in a convoy were ambushed on November 23 , 2009 , and their bodies were buried in a mass grave . The wife and sister of a political rival of Ampatuan 's and 30 journalists were among the victims . There are 196 accused , about 500 witnesses and more than 11,000 murder charges involved in the massacre case , which is expected to take years . `` In addition to the 58 killed in the Maguindanao massacre , the family is implicated over the years in the killing of at least 56 people , including relatives of opposition politicians , landowners who resisted forced acquisition of their property , eyewitnesses to Ampatuan crimes , including their own militia members , and even children , '' the rights group 's report says . Human Rights Watch said it interviewed approximately 50 victims of abuses , their family members and friends , and witnesses , in producing the report . `` Despite an initial flurry of activity after the November 23 killings , including some arrests , 126 suspects remain at large and the government 's prosecution remains woefully slow and limited , '' the report says . `` Senior police and military officers who failed to act upon knowledge of Ampatuan crimes have not been investigated ; investigations into the source of the family 's weapons have lacked transparency and independence ; and the national institutions responsible for accountability -- the Justice Department , the Ombudsman 's Office , and the Commission on Human Rights -- have done nothing significant to address the situation . '' `` One year after the Maguindanao massacre , the Ampatuans remain a powerful and dangerous force with which to be reckoned . For more than two decades , the Ampatuans operated unchecked by the national police , the military , and the Department of Justice , which have not only failed to seriously investigate crimes allegedly committed by the family 's militia , but have even armed and worked alongside its members . '' In the Human Rights Watch report , authorities appeared stymied . `` What can we do ? This is an influential family , '' a police officer told the rights group . The Philippine government did not immediately respond to CNN 's phone and e-mail requests for comment , but a spokesman for the administration of President Benigno Aquino sent a text message to The New York Times . `` We 're working on it . The Ampatuan case is being tried , the prosecution is serious . We 're quietly laying the groundwork for dismantling private armies , but some cases are harder to fix than others , '' wrote spokesman Ricky Carandang , according to the Times . Also , General Eduardo Ermita , the former executive secretary of the Arroyo administration , disputed the report 's contention that his government was slow to prosecute the perpetrators . `` Within days , more than a hundred people were apprehended and charged , including members of the Ampatuan family , not even sparing the patriarch Andal Sr. and his sons Andal Jr. and Zaldy who has since been relieved as ARMM governor . And the trial goes on to this day . '' He also challenged Human Rights Watch to present evidence to back the allegation that the military armed the Ampatuans . `` For all intents and purposes , this allegation must be addressed if only to spare the armed forces from being unnecessarily suspected of wrong-doing , better yet to come their self-defense , '' he said . The 2009 political massacre shocked people even in a country that is familiar with election violence . The trial of Ampatuan Jr. and his alleged accomplices has been delayed repeatedly , most recently because of a defense request for more preparation time . The delays have prompted outcries against the political influence of the Ampatuan family . They have ruled Maguindanao for two decades . Maguindanao is part of an autonomous region in predominantly Muslim Mindanao , which was set up in the 1990s to quell armed uprisings by people seeking an independent Muslim homeland in the predominantly Christian Asian nation .
The Ampatuan family is implicated in a 2009 political massacre . In the Philippines, there are many examples of this kind of thing. Dozens of people were ambushed , their bodies buried in a mass grave .