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InternationalCandles Journalists light candlesfor the victims of the Maguindanaomassacre at a rally.danao. The Ampatauan clan is politicallypowerful in the region; relatives, in-laws,or close allies of the Ampatuan clan runmost of the Maguindao’s thirty-six towns.By filing candidacy papers, Mangudadatuchallenged the Ampatuans andtheir absolute control (enforced withguns and a reported private army of fivehundred men) over the province. Similarto cities controlled by gangs, very fewwill talk about the Ampatuans out of fear.These killings prove the desperate lengthsto which the elite are willing to go to protecttheir political power. “Political officeshave become attractive due to the billionsof pesos in I.R.A. [Internal RevenueAllotment] Remittances electoral victoryprovides,” Francisco Lara of the developmentstudies at the Institute of LondonSchool of Economics says, referring tothe share of national taxes local governmentsare given.Andal Ampatuan Jr., the currentmayor of Datu Unsay, is believed to haveordered the massacre. He and his brotherZalday, also a governor in the Maguindanaoregion, are now under arrest aftersurrendering a few days after the killings,and await trial on twenty-five counts ofmurder.What makes this ordeal controversialis that President Gloria MacapagalArroyo, along with declaring stateof emergency on the Maguindanaoprovince, declared martial law on thesouthern province on December 4 th anddeployed thousands of troops to theprovince. Martial law allows the militaryand police to make arrests and raidson property without warrant. Raiding awarehouse and ranch that belong to theAmpatuan clan, Philippine police andmilitary found firearms, ammunition,and vehicles. They have arrested seventysuspects including three other brothersof Andal Ampatuan Jr. and Andal AmpatuanSr. without warrants. The armedmen resisted on December 6 th in a firefight,withdrawing only after reinforcementswere brought in. But even withthese finds, critics remark that declaringmartial law sets a dangerous precedent,especially since neither of the two constitutionalconditions that allow a presidentto declare martial law—foreign invasionor rebellion—have not been fulfilled. Butisn’t a cache of 1,500 firearms and half amillion rounds of ammunition and fiftysevendead (including thirty reporters)enough to define a rebellion?President Arroyo probably did theright thing for this unique and horrificsituation both politically and ethically.But what makes this ordealcontroversial is along withdeclaring state of emergencyon the Maguindanao province,President Gloria MacapagalArroyo, had declared martiallaw as well as deployingthousands of troops to theprovince.With the power the Ampatuans have,would the national government havebeen able to conduct a speedy and fairtrial or even find the suspects involved?With 4,000 loyal armed men, the Ampatauanshave not surrendered to the 24-hour deadline they were given by leafletsdropped by helicopters urging them andclan followers to surrender and give uptheir firearms. Philippine military havenow started to move and position troopsblogspotin the Maguindanao region with intentto pressure the militiamen to surrender.Luckily, President Arroyo didn’t take thatchance and let the situation worsen orturn into a full-blown rebellion. She alsosaved face when people doubted if thegovernment would push the importanceof the situation when it was clear thatthe Ampatuans were involved, especiallysince the clan had supported the presidentpolitically since 2001. The clan’s riseto power probably also gained PresidentArroyo more support.Even with critics and more then halfthe senators opposing the declaration,martial law will likely not be overturned,due to the fact that only the House ofRepresentatives (dominated by Arroyo’sallies) can reject President Arroyo’s declaration.On the other hand, with theAmpatuans’ power shaky after numerousarrests and suspicion, the power in theprovince will probably shift to the familyof Mr. Mangudadatu, which controls theneighboring province of Sultan Kudarat.Mr. Mangudadatu filed his papers forcandidacy just days after the massacre,exclaiming that now nothing could stophim from running for governor. HMRJanuary 2010 HM Review 7