International

Emergency Imposed in Two Provinces following Massacre in Philippines

Following killing of 24 people in an attack on an election caravan, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared emergency in two southern provinces.

Arroyo spokesman Serge Remonde said that the emergency – which includes checkpoints and random searches by authorities – will continue till the president is sure that law and order have been restored in the region.

“No one will be untouchable,” he told reporters, as officials promised to make arrests in the country’s worst election massacre. Remonde called the killings “unconscionable”.

According to Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, troops were finding a couple of bodies every hour or so, and officials were still trying to get the exact number of family members, political supporters and journalists who were intercepted by about 100 gunmen on Monday and taken to a remote mountainous area.

“We’re hopeful that some people escaped, and we’re hoping to find them alive,” he said.

Police said that the convoy comprising of at least 40 people was going to register Ismael Mangudadatu, vice mayor of Buluan township, to run for provincial governor when they were stopped.

Soldiers and police later found 24 bodies, including those of Mangudadatu’s wife, Genalyn, and his two sisters, sprawled on the ground or shot in their vehicles about three miles (five kilometers) from where they were ambushed, police spokesman Leonardo Espina said.

Mangudadatu, who did not take part in the convoy of vehicles, said that four witnesses had told him the caravan was stopped by gunmen loyal to his fierce political rival and the current governor of Maguindanao province, Andal Ampatuan Jr.

He refused to name the witnesses or offer other details.

“It was really planned because they had already dug a huge hole (for the bodies),” Mangudadatu said.

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