Philippines removes regional police force after massacre

Philippine officials have relieved from duty more than a thousand police officers in a southern province where 57 people were massacred last week in the worst example of election-related violence in the country's history.

The entire police force of the province of Maguindanao, consisting of 1,092 officers, has been removed and will be replaced by personnel from other regions to ensure an impartial investigation of the killings, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said Wednesday.

"We are replacing those that have been there for a long time and may be perceived to be partial to one side or the other," Puno told reporters.

A handful of police officers, as well as a member of a powerful family in the region, have been linked to the Nov. 23 massacre, whose victims included the wife, family and supporters of Ismael Mangudadatu, vice-mayor of the province's Buluan township.

A caravan of vehicles, being followed by more than a dozen journalists, was on its way to register Mangudadatu as a candidate for provincial governor in Maguindanao, which is located on the country's southern island of Mindanao. The caravan and journalists were reportedly stopped by 100 armed men and taken at gunpoint to a grassy hill, where they were shot or butchered with machetes.

Authorities last week charged Andal Ampatuan Jr., a town mayor in the province and the son of current provincial governor Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr., on allegations he had a role in the killings.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's ruling Lakas Kampi CMD party, facing local and international pressure to crack down on regional warlords, last week expelled both members of the Ampatuan family plus Andal Ampatuan Jr.'s brother Zaldy, the governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The Ampatuans have denied any responsibility and in a news conference Sunday accused Muslim separatist guerrillas of staging the attacks.

2 more men arrested

Police also announced Wednesday that they have formally arrested two militiamen from Ampatuan Jr.'s town on accusations they participated in the attack.

Ballistics tests on an M16 rifle seized from one of them, Esmail Canapia, showed it was used to fire several shells found at the scene of the massacre, national police director general Jesus Verzosa said.

Canapia and another man, Takpan Dilon, were initially apprehended as they were allegedly fleeing the scene of the attack and have been held since then.

Armed militiamen in the province are meant to be an auxiliary force to military and police battling insurgents, but often serve as private armies for local warlords.

National police spokesman Chief Supt. Leonardo Espina said Canapia would be flown to Manila for further investigation of his possible role in the killings and any links to Ampatuan Jr.

The southern Philippines region has had a history of election-related violence due to the presence of armed groups. Muslim insurgents have been waging a campaign in the region since the 1970s.

But the scale of atrocity in last week's massacre was shocking, even by the standards of the often lawless province of Maguindanao, and prompted Philippine authorities to declare a state of emergency in the area.

Mangudadatu sent his relatives to file his election papers because, he said, Ampatuan Jr. had threatened to kill him if he attempted to challenge the family's control of the region, and he believed they would not harm his female relatives. Mangudadatu later filed his papers on Friday, escorted by soldiers, a police commander and a senior army general.

"Only death can stop me from running," he said.