Philippine authorities detained a provincial police chief and deployed 1,000 soldiers to search for suspects after gunmen killed 46 people in one of the worst acts of political violence in the nation’s history.
Abusana Maguid, the police chief of Maguindanao province, was relieved of his duties after witnesses saw three of his officers at the scene of the attack two days ago on the southern island of Mindanao, National Police spokesman Leonardo Espina said Tuesday.
Maguid may bear “command responsibility” for the actions of his officers, who were also detained, Espina said.
“All who are responsible will be made accountable. There will be no sacred cows.”
State of emergency
President Gloria Arroyo on Tuesday put Maguindanao and neighboring Sultan Kudarat province under a state of emergency and vowed to hunt down those behind the massacre. Many of the victims, among them women and journalists, were found in a mass grave after about 100 gunmen stopped a convoy of people on their way to file a local politician’s application to run for provincial governor, the military said.
The killings represent the worst single incident of election-related violence in the nation’s history, according to the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon “condemns this heinous crime committed in the context of a local election campaign,” his office said. Ban hopes that “no effort will be spared to bring justice and to hold the perpetrators accountable.”
Buluan City Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu, who planned to run for provincial governor in elections next year, wasn’t in the convoy. He told local media his wife was killed and that some of the women in the group were raped before they were murdered.
The military has said that backers of a rival candidate may have been involved.
Allies now rivals
Jesus Dureza, Arroyo’s adviser on Mindanao affairs, said he has met with the Mangudadatu family and relatives of Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan. The two families, who were once allies, are now political rivals, the Philippine Daily Inquirer said.
The Mangudadatus pleaded for justice, Dureza said in a phone interview late Tuesday before he was cut off. The Ampatuans pledged to cooperate with any investigation, he said in a GMA News TV interview.
“No effort will be spared to bring justice to the victims and hold the perpetrators accountable,” Arroyo said. She deployed extra troops and ordered Director General Jesus Versoza, the national police chief, to lead the investigation into the killings.
Twenty-four bodies were exhumed Tuesday, bringing the death toll to 46, Chief Superintendent Josefino Cataluna, central Mindanao police director, said. Police will continue to dig at the site where the bodies were found, he said.
