MANILA, Philippines — Critics of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo challenged her declaration of martial law in a southern province, as the government conducted more raids on Monday to battle what it calls an armed rebellion. Mrs. Arroyo’s critics, including legislators and civil libertarians, say she overstepped constitutional bounds when she put Maguindanao Province under martial law Friday.
Maguindanao, the site of a Nov. 23 massacre in which 57 people were killed, is a stronghold of supporters of the Ampatuan family, a powerful political clan linked to the violence. Before putting the province under martial law, Mrs. Arroyo had already declared a state of emergency in Manguindanao and nearby areas on Nov. 24.
Martial law has allowed the military and the police to arrest suspects without warrants and conduct raids on properties. Critics denounced the president, saying that neither of the two constitutional conditions for a martial law declaration — a foreign invasion or a rebellion — had been met.
The military has confiscated more than 1,500 firearms as well as half a million rounds of ammunition since the raids began Saturday, officials said. Maj. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer, the martial law administrator, said Monday that the arms cache was “just the tip of the iceberg.”
The latest raid, on Monday at the mansion of Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr. in the provincial capital of Shariff Aguak, yielded more firearms and ammunition, General Ferrer said.
Maj. Gen. Gaudencio Pangilinan, the armed forces’ vice chief of staff for operations, said Monday that at least 10 percent of the recovered weapons and ammunition had markings indicating they came from the Defense Department. He said the Ampatuans must have collected those when they were still helping the military fight Islamic insurgents.
General Ferrer said the military had received intelligence reports that as many as 3,000 supporters of the Ampatuans across the province had amassed since the crackdown began and now presented a danger to the government. Ampatuan-linked militiamen clashed with the police on Sunday in Datu Unsay, near the site of the massacre and where the main suspect in those killings,
The mayor of the town, Andal Ampatuan Jr., is believed to have ordered the massacre. He surrendered a few days after the killings and is awaiting trial on multiple murder counts of murder.
His brother Zalday, the governor of the Muslim autonomous region that includes Maguindanao, was taken into custody. Their father was taken Sunday to a military infirmary in the southern city of Davao because of high blood pressure, according to his family.
Four other Ampatuan brothers, as well as cousins and 41 supporters, were arrested, the authorities said.
On Sunday, Mrs. Arroyo submitted a report to Congress justifying her declaration, citing the danger posed by the Ampatuans and their followers. Mrs. Arroyo, who was a close political ally of the Ampatuans before the massacre, said martial law would continue “until the time that such rebellion is quelled.”
Didagen Dilangalen, a congressman and relative of the Ampatuans, said there had been no armed uprising in Maguindanao and that the talk about rebellion began after the martial-law declaration. He filed a petition before the Supreme Court on Monday challenging the declaration.
On Monday, 18 of the country’s 23 senators voted to oppose the martial law declaration, according to Senator Juan Ponce Enrile. However, only the House of Representatives can reject Mrs. Arroyo’s move. Because her allies dominate the lower house, it looks unlikely that will happen when both chambers meet Tuesday to consider the matter.
source: http://www.nytimes.com/
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