State of emergency in Maguindanao to stay until next admin

Malacañang will leave it to the next administration the decision when to lift the state of emergency declared in two Central Mindanao provinces and one city following the Nov. 23 massacre in Maguindanao province. At a press briefing in Malacañang Wednesday, Executive Secretary Leandro Mendoza said the Department of National Defense (DND) and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) have yet to recommend the lifting of the declaration. "There is still violence, threats to lives and property [in the provinces]. Let the next administration study the possibility of lifting the state of emergency in Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat and Cotobato City," Mendoza told reporters. President-elect Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III will assume office June 30. Mendoza said a security briefing would be given to Aquino on the situation for him to decide accordingly. A total of 57 people, including more than 30 journalists, were killed in what is now considered as one of the worst cases of political violence in the country. Members of the powerful Ampatuan clan, as well as some of their armed supporters, are currently incarcerated and facing trial for the carnage. Among those charged were clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr., former governor of Maguindanao; and his sons Andal Jr., former mayor of Datu Unsay town in the province; and Zaldy, former governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Mendoza said the declaration of state of emergency has prevented the escalation of violence in the affected areas and paved the way for the speedy arrest of the prime suspects in the mass killings. — KBK/RSJ, GMANews.TV