MCF8316A: Board Layout & Stencil Design

Hi team,
Customer assumed that via's purpose was to better place the Thermal PAD on the back side as well. Is this understanding correct?
If the above is the case, is it correct to say that this is just a recommendation and not a question of whether or not it should be there? (Customer also read that from the application note SLUA271B.)
Is the reason why the Stencil of the Thermal PAD is divided into 12 sections for the aforementioned VIA arrangement?
This question is related to customer electrical CAD symbol design.

Best regards,

Hayashi