PHILIPPINES CARELESS WHISPER

MANILA, Philippines - The military launched air and ground operations yesterday as President Arroyo placed the provinces of Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat and Cotabato City under a state of emergency in the wake of the gruesome massacre that claimed the lives of at least 46 people.

“There is an urgent need to prevent and suppress the occurrence of several other incidents of lawless violence,” Mrs. Arroyo stated in Proclamation 1946, issued following a closed-door meeting with security officials in Malacañang.

At the same time, the President ordered the “immediate, relentless pursuit” of the perpetrators and vowed that they would be brought to justice for their “dastardly act.”

The President designated Presidential Adviser for Mindanao Jesus Dureza as head of the crisis team that would handle the investigation and contain the situation.

She also directed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to place any witnesses under the Witness Protection Program (WPP).

“The President’s order is very clear and succinct: Pursue the case no matter who gets hurt,” Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said.

“The President sees this (incident) as unconscionable and barbaric,” Remonde said.

Malacañang described Monday’s attack as the worst political violence in recent history.

Remonde said the state of emergency declaration would allow the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to undertake measures to prevent a possible full-blown war between the followers of the two political families in the region.

Remonde added the declaration of a state of emergency would help the government security forces disarm private armies in the area.

The state of emergency would also allow the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in the region, according to Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello III.

Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs Gabriel Claudio said Malacañang has yet to decide whether to hold a special election in the region in the aftermath of the massacre.

“Not only because of the incident but because of the volatility of the area. I think there is reason for the Comelec (Commission on Elections) to definitely look into the area and then probably consider a special treatment as far as the conduct of the elections is concerned,” Claudio said.

More grisly find

Police said the convoy of more than 40 people, including 12 journalists, were accompanying Genalyn Mangudadatu, the wife of Buluan vice mayor Ismael Mangudadatu, to file his certificate of candidacy to run for provincial governor when they were stopped by some 100 heavily armed men and taken hostage on a remote highway in Barangay Salman near the town of Ampatuan.

Soldiers and police initially found 21 bodies, including Genalyn and Mangudadatu’s two sisters, Eden, the vice mayor of Mangudadatu town, and Farina, sprawled on the ground about five kilometers from where they were taken.

The police and military yesterday pulled out more bullet-riddled bodies from shallow graves near the site where the victims had been taken.

Police said they now have a total of 46 bodies.

“It’s a big area where these bodies were found. They are finding a couple of bodies every couple of hours or so,” according to Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno who flew in from Manila with PNP chief Director General Jesus Verzosa to oversee the investigation.

Puno said the other bodies recovered yesterday had been included in the death toll but he would not speculate on how many people in total had been murdered.

Authorities warned the death toll would climb as they sought to deal with the fallout from last Monday’s events in which a political clan is alleged to have tried to wipe out its rivals.

The identity of the attackers was unclear, but the military said it is believed the motive of the attack was political. The Mangudadatus blamed the Ampatuan family for the incident.

Genalyn was to file her husband’s certificate of candidacy to contest the governorship of Andal Ampatuan Sr., the patriarch of the Ampatuan family.

Ampatuan has been elected governor of Maguindanao three times previously, always unopposed, although he resigned from the post earlier this year, apparently to circumvent the term limits of elected officials.

Ampatuan has survived a dozen attacks on his life. He has blamed those assaults, one of which claimed the life of his son, on political rivals.

The Ampatuans are known political allies of President Arroyo in the region.

Claudio, however, stressed Malacañang is not making any judgment as to who was behind the carnage.

He said the Ampatuans and the Mangudadatus are not only political allies but also belong to the ruling party Lakas-Kampi-CMD.

“This is much more than a political situation and it is being addressed as such,” Claudio said.

Focus on the suspects

President Arroyo ordered Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales to fly to Maguindanao and oversee the military action against the attackers and secure the region.

Thousands of government troops had been deployed to prevent a possible spillover of violence.

Gonzales, who had a meeting with military commanders in the region, said the massive deployment of military and police forces was meant to physically secure the province of Maguindanao and to prevent further outbreak of hostilities between the Mangudadatu and Ampatuan clans.

He said the police, under the state of emergency, are empowered to enforce the cancellation of firearm permits in the region.

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner said helicopter gunships, bomber planes and armored personnel carriers were sent to the area to go after the suspects.

Roadblocks manned by the police and military had been increased to block possible retaliatory attempts by the followers of the two political families.

“We have deployed more troops to go after the criminals,” he said.

Brawner said the troops would augment the 3,000 troops already based in the region. He said the troops are under orders to arrest the followers of the Ampatuan family, who are suspected to have carried out the murders.

The military said the Ampatuan clan, which has a political lock on the areas of Maguindanao where the murders took place, is the prime suspect.

“The suspects are bodyguards of Ampatuan, local police aides, and certain lawless elements. We maintain the Ampatuans are the suspects,” Brawner said.

Puno added the investigation would be completed within a couple of days and arrests will be made.

“There are no sacred cows,” Puno told reporters. “It is going to be a direct investigation of the crimes committed. We have some information about specific names, not just those who ordered this thing, but also those who committed it.”

Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to help in the investigation.

She said the NBI is expected to confirm the identities of the suspects behind the massacre and help the police and military in tracking them down.

“We will ensure the expeditious prosecution of all those who are responsible for this atrocity. The DOJ shall work on these cases until we have prosecuted the perpetrators to its successful conclusion,” Devanadera said.

Police officers suspended

The PNP has ordered the relief of two senior police officers who allegedly participated in the massacre.

Verzosa ordered the “restrictive custody” of Maguindanao police provincial director Senior Superintendent Abusana Maguid and Chief Inspector Sukarno Dikay, Shariff Aguak police chief.

“They were relieved from post and placed under restrictive custody of the (PNP) Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Cotabato City,” PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina said.

Dikay was relieved and taken into custody after he was allegedly seen among the gunmen that took the hostages.

“He (Dikay) was seen at the scene of the crime together with some (militiamen),” Espina said.

Maguid, on the other hand, was sacked for command responsibility, according to Espina.

Espina said the investigation would also focus on the possible lapse of security by the local police in preventing clan wars from occurring.

The probe would also focus on why the police failed to detect a large number of heavily armed men in the area.

Sources revealed two other police officers were also implicated in the massacre.

They were identified only as a certain SPO2 Bacal and an Inspector Jubingan.

Espina, however, refused to implicate the Ampatuan family directly for the carnage.

“We have many names, we hear Datu Unsay (mayor Andal) Ampatuan (Jr.) and his group were allegedly the ones who stopped the group of Mangudadatu and he is the subject of verification. We will determine who are culpable, who are responsible and we will charge them in court. When there is a warrant we will arrest them,” Espina said.

Espina added they are still verifying reports that four people survived the massacre and are now under the protective custody of the Mangudadatus. The four witnesses survived the attack when they fell behind the convoy and turned back when they heard gunshots, a source said. The survivors identified the Ampatuans as being behind the ambush.

Initial reports said the witnesses overheard Datu Ampatuan Jr. say that he was acting on orders of his father, Ampatuan Sr. and older brother Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan.

Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu told local radio that the four survivors are now under their protective custody.

“They will come out at the right time, they are safe with us,” he said. –With James Mananghaya, Cecille Suerte Felipe, John Unson, Roel Pareño, Edu Punay, Mike Frialde, Edith Regalado, Sandy Araneta, AP - By Paolo Romero (Philstar News Service, www.philstar.com)