Dec 5, 2009, 17:43 GMT
Koronadal City, Philippines - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Saturday declared martial law in a southern province where 57 people were murdered and security forces rounded up prime suspects in the gruesome crime.
Arroyo said she ordered martial law in Maguindanao province, 930 kilometres south of Manila, as 'heavily armed groups (in the area) have established positions to resist government troops.'
She added that 'public peace and order in Maguindanao has deteriorated to the extent that the local judicial system and other government mechanisms in the province are not functioning, thus endangering public safety.'
Arroyo also suspended the privilege of habeas corpus, allowing authorities to arrest without warrants suspects in the massacre on November 23 in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao.
Maguindanao Governor Datu Andal Ampatuan Senior and son, regional Governor Datu Zaldy Ampatuan, were arrested in their sprawling mansion in Shariff Aguak town.
General Victor Ibrado, armed forces chief of staff, said other suspects have sent surrender feelers.
'The locations of the others are being determined,' he said. 'They were not found in their places of residence.'
Another son of Ampatuan Senior, Mayor Datu Andal Ampatuan Junior, has been detained in Manila since last week and charged with 25 counts of murder.
The victims were on their way to file the certificate of candidacy of Buluan town Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu for Maguindanao governor, pitting him against Ampatuan Junior in next year's elections.
They included Mangudadatu's wife, two sisters, two human rights lawyers and 30 local journalists who were covering the event.
According to the complaint filed in court, Ampatuan Junior and more than 100 gunmen allegedly 'perpetrated the killing of the victims in a brutal and savage manner and extreme cruelty.'
The complaint said the victims were 'mercilessly massacred' with some bodies mutilated beyond recognition. It added that mass graves had already been dug up before the killings using a backhoe owned by the provincial government of Maguindanao.
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