Cops in MManila on alert vs possible spillover of Maguindanao turmoil

Police in Metro Manila went on heightened alert effective Monday in anticipation of a possible spillover of violence if other members of the Ampatuan clan are brought to the metropolis. Radio dzBB reported that Director Roberto Rosales, chief of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), ordered his men to keep watch against possible attempts by Ampatuan sympathizers to create trouble. The order came even as Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera admitted they still have yet to decide whether to bring to Manila members of the Ampatuan clan who were arrested last weekend. [See: DOJ not keen on taking the Ampatuans to Manila] Devanadera, in a radio interview Sunday, had said they are not keen on bringing in those arrested after martial law went into effect in Maguindanao due to the sheer number of people arrested.

As of Sunday, government troops had arrested at least 62 people linked to the November 23 massacre in Maguindanao that killed at least 57 people, and to a supposed “looming rebellion" there. "Sa ngayon wala pa kaming decision aside from (Maguindanao Governor Andal) Ampatuan Sr., marami pang ibang naaresto ... Di pa final ang decision kung doon siya mananatili o ililipat dito (As of now there is no final decision to bring the governor and the others to Manila. We have yet to decide)," Devanadera said in an interview on dzXL radio Monday. The elder Ampatuan’s son, Andal Jr., is detained at the National Bureau of Investigation head office in Manila. Meanwhile, a separate interview on dzXL radio said police in Manila have doubled security in key installations including the US Embassy, Malacañang, and the Commission on Elections. On Sunday, the military said it is bracing for a possible spillover of the current turmoil in Maguindanao province, while government continues its crackdown on the people behind the grisly November 23 massacre in Ampatuan town. [See: Troops in Manila ready vs possible spillover of Maguindanao turmoil] This was after reports that at least 300 supporters of the powerful Ampatuan political clan, the suspects in the massacre that killed 57 people, have left for Metro Manila to escape the ongoing operations by government security forces in Maguindanao. On the same day, however, PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina belittled the reported arrival in Metro Manila of the 300 men associated with the Ampatuan clan. "As far as the information that we have received... there are no spillovers here in Metro Manila. We're just reckoning with Maguindanao," Espina said. "We have received those reports but these are relatives [of the Ampatuans] who have transferred for the meantime here in Metro Manila because of the ongoing operations in Maguindanao," Espina said. - RSJ/LBG, GMANews.TV