MANILA – Soldiers recovered another big cache of high-powered weapons and ammunition from a ranch believed to be owned by the patriarch a powerful and influential clan linked to the November 23 massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao, the military announced on Sunday.
A spokesman said recovery followed another report that the military has arrested 47 more suspects in the massacre which resulted in the imposition of martial law by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Maguindanao, a component province of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), on Saturday.
Except for these two developments, a military spokesman said everything has been peaceful and normal as Maguindanao entered its second day of martial rule on Sunday, which is being implemented by about 4,000 soldiers under Lieutenant General Raymundo Ferrer, the chief of the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom), as the “military governor,†the spokesman said.
Acting on a tip from concerned citizens, the spokesman said a combined team of soldiers and policemen raided on Sunday a ranch in the town of Ampatuan and recovered another huge cache of arms and ammunition.
The ranch, the spokesman said, is believed to be owned by Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan, the patriarch of a clan who has put a stranglehold on the province for the past nine years because of its close political association with the Arroyo administration.
According to the spokesman, the soldiers recovered at least 30 high-powered weapons, including assault weapons and .30 caliber machineguns, as well as boxes of ammunition similar to those seized from the mansion of Mayor Andal Ampatuan Junior of Datu Unsay town located inside the clan’s compound in the capital town of Shariff Aguak on Friday.
As before, the ammunition boxes bore markings that these belong to and are intended for the exclusive use of members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police, the spokesman said.
He added the weapons and the ammunition boxes appear to have been buried hurriedly in large hole located in a remote portion of the ranch believed to be owned by the Ampatuan patriarch.
As a result, the soldiers picked up for questioning several caretakers who were found inside the ranch, the spokesman also said..
At the same time, the spokesman reported that at least 47 more people have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the massacre. Most of those arrested were either members of the clan or their loyal leaders and supporters, he said.
One of those scheduled to be arrested was the clan patriarch but up to late Sunday afternoon, reports said he refused to leave his room in a private hospital in Davao City, also in Mindanao, where he has been confined since Friday after he complained of dizziness because of a heart ailment.
A report from the Davao correspondent of the Metro Manila-based ABS-CBN radio/TV network, said lawyers of the Ampatuan patriarch insisted their client could not be arrested because the soldiers and policemen did not carry an arrest warrant issued by the courts.
However, the report said the soldiers argued such warrant was not needed because the Arroyo martial law proclamation in Maguindanao suspended the writ of habeas corpus, authorized warrantless arrests and allowed the detention of suspects for a maximum of three days.
In a related development, the Black & White Movement, composed of former members of the Arroyo Cabinet, announced they would file on Monday a petition asking the Supreme Court (SC) to declare the Arroyo proclamation as illegal and unconstitutional.
The group pointed out the proclamation did not meet, in particular, the conditions set by the 1987 Constitution which authorize the president of the Philippines, as the commander-in-chief of country’s armed forces, to impose martial rule.
These conditions, rebellion and invasion, were not present when President Arroyo imposed martial rule, supposedly to hasten the solution of the massacre and restore peace and order Maguindanao, the group pointed out.
The SC also said there is no legal basis for the President’s proclamation as it disputed Malacanang’s claim that the judicial system, especially the courts in Maguindanao, was no longer functioning.
An SC spokesman said the charges arising from the massacre that were filed before the Regional Trial Court in the neighboring city of Cotabato were moving forward.
The issuance of search warrants by the lower courts in Kidapawan City in North Cotabato also enabled a combined team of soldiers and policemen to raid the mansions of members of the Ampatuan clan and recover a cache of firearms and ammunition, the spokesman said.
“This is far from a picture of non-performing judicial system,†he stressed as he denied Malacanang’s claim that judges in Cotabato City had all gone on leave or fled to avoid having to handle the massacre cases involving the Ampatuans.
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