Day of mourning declared for massacre victims

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has declared Thursday, November 26, 2009, as national day of mourning for the more than 50 victims in last Monday's gruesome massacre in Maguindanao province.


 President Arroyo on Tuesday placed the entire province of Maguindanao - as well as the neighboring Cotabato City and Sultan Kudarat - under emergency.

As of last count Wednesday noon, a total of 52 bodies, most of them bullet-riddled, have so far been recovered from the "killing fields" in Salman village in Ampatuan town.

President Arroyo said that she has already sent Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno and Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera to Maguindanao to help in the swift resolution of the case.

No fear

The victims were all in a convoy bound for Shariff Aguak to file a certificate of candidacy on behalf of gubernatorial aspirant Ismael "Toto" Mangudadatu.

Among those killed were journalists covering the event and several motorists who happened to pass by the road where the convoy was blocked reportedly by a large group of heavily armed men allegedly associated with the Ampatuan clan.

Amid clamor to investigate the Ampatuan clan, a known Arroyo ally, President Arroyo reiterated that no one would be above the law. The Mangudadatus are known political rivals of the Ampatuans.