New Year lifting of state of emergency in Maguindanao seen

Malacañang may lift before New Year the state of emergency declared over Maguindanao and two other Mindanao areas following the November 23 massacre of more than 50 people, including journalists. Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello III said this would depend on the recommendations from the Departments of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Department of National Defense (DND) during the Cabinet meeting set on Tuesday. "Included in the agenda of our Tuesday meeting on December 29 is a situationer on Maguindanao. We can discuss the possibility of whether we maintain the state of emergency or if there is enough reason to lift the state of emergency," he said on government-run dzRB radio. The Cabinet meeting will be held in Baguio City where President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is vacationing for the holidays. Aside from Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat province and Cotabato City were also placed under state of emergency after 57 people were killed in what is now considered as the worst case of political violence in the country in Maguindanao. Claudio said the Cabinet security cluster would particularly discuss the normalization of local government functions in Maguindanao, the status of the legal cases against the massacre and rebellion suspects, and the overall peace and order situation. Government has poured in about 4,000 troops in the area to prevent revenge killings and violence from spreading to other areas in Mindanao. The declaration of a state of emergency was recommended by presidential adviser on Mindanao affairs Jesus Dureza, who brokered the surrender of massacre suspect Andal Ampatuan Jr., mayor of Datu Unsay town in Maguindanao, three days after the carnage. President Arroyo also placed Maguindanao under martial rule last December 4 but lifted it eight days later after other suspects in the massacre - most of them members of the powerful Ampatuan political clan - were arrested and their weapons seized. - KBK, GMANews.TV