MANILA - The Makati Business Club (MBC) urged the government to take swift action on the recent bloodbath in Maguindanao province, which killed more than 50 people.

"The government must now prove to the Filipino people and the international community that its utterances of condemnation and avowals that 'nobody should be untouchable' will translate to decisive action against those behind this mass murder," the MBC said in a statement released Thursday.

Specifically, the MBC called on the government to "disarm and dismantle" private armies in Maguindanao and the rest of the Philippines to end political violence in the country.

"The brutality, brazenness, and impunity with which the perpetrators executed their horrific crime are difficult to fathom, but become conceivable in the context of the warlord politics the current administration allowed to flourish in Maguindanao and exploited for political ends. Now, like an overindulgent parent, the government has to rein in the monsters it created," the MBC said.

Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., the main suspect in the Maguindanao massacre, faced multiple murder raps in a judicial investigation on Thursday. He insisted, however, that he was innocent.

The bloodbath occured on Monday after about 100 gunmen allegedly abducted a convoy of aides and relatives of Esmael Mangudadatu, Ampatuan's political rival in Maguindanao. The fatalities also included a group of journalists.

The victims were snatched as they were traveling in a 6-vehicle convoy to nominate Mangudadatu as the opposition candidate for provincial governor in next year's national elections. They were shot a short time later and dumped or buried in shallow graves on a remote farming road close to a town bearing the Ampatuan mine.

As of writing, 57 bodies have been recovered by authorities.