President Gloria Arroyo on Saturday lifted martial law in a southern Philippine province where an election-linked massacre left 57 people dead, senior aides said, with over 500 suspects now arrested. The regime imposed eight days ago in Maguindanao province ends at 9:00pm (1300 GMT), the government announced after Arroyo met her top security advisers in the capital Manila.
Martial rule was imposed in the country's second-poorest province to allow arrests without court orders, helping police detain members of a powerful Muslim clan led by Andal Ampatuan Snr, Arroyo's former political ally. His son Andal Ampatuan Jnr had earlier been arrested and charged with multiple counts of murder for allegedly ordering the November 23 kidnapping and shooting of 57 people, including journalists and relatives of a local rival.
The rival, Esmael Mangudadatu, alleged the killings were carried out to prevent him running against the younger Ampatuan for governor of Maguindanao next year. The Ampatuans were later expelled from Arroyo's ruling Lakas Kampi CMD coalition and the clan patriarch was among 24 people arrested and separately charged with rebellion after martial law took effect. The government also seized a vast array of weaponry from the Ampatuans' large group of bodyguards.
"In view of these accomplishments... the cabinet group recommended the lifting of Proclamation 1959 and the president has approved the recommendation," Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita told a news conference. Ermita said 529 people are in custody after eight days of military and police operations in the province, most of them members of the Ampatuan clan or their armed militia.
He said 247 other suspects were being investigated for allegedly taking part in the massacre and could face murder charges, while up to 638 people could be charged with rebellion. Manila acknowledged it had allowed the clan to build its own army to help overstretched government forces in Mindanao fight communist and Islamist militants with alleged al Qaeda ties.