Arrests expected within 24 hrs in Philippines killings
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo expects arrests in the massacre of at least 57 unarmed civilians in the next 24 hours, a spokesman said Wednesday.
“The president … is enraged by these barbaric acts,” spokesman Cerge Remonde said. “She has literally thrown the full force of the law and has mobilized the security and police forces of the state to go after the perpetrators. We are expecting arrests and prosecution in the next 24 hours.”
Authorities have disbanded a paramilitary force in the southern Philippines suspected of having a role in Monday’s massacre, the country’s state-run media reported.
Remonde could not say how many arrests were expected
But he said the deaths were the result of a political clan war, not Muslim secessionism in a troubled region. “So far as this case is concerned, this is a limited clan political rivalry which has been going on for some time now,” Remonde said.
The death toll grew Wednesday after 11 more bodies were recovered from a rural area of Mindanao, where the remains were hastily buried. Arroyo has declared Wednesday a national day of mourning.
The Philippine government is under intense pressure to find the culprits responsible for planning and carrying out the abduction and killings of politicians, lawyers, journalists and reportedly some bystanders. Suspicion has fallen on the Ampatuan family, a key ally of the Arroyo administration in the Maguindanao region of the southern Mindanao province.
Remonde appeared to blame the Ampatuan clan, adding: “There is, however, a move now by the administration party to expel the suspected clan.”
Those killed include the wife and two sisters of a politician who plans to run for the spot vacated next year by Maguindanao’s governor, Andal Ampatuan.
