Philippine prosecutors filed charges of rebellion today against five members of a powerful local clan over the massacre of 57 people in the south of the country.
Nineteen others were also charged with rebellion, which carries a sentence of life imprisonment, in connection with the killings. The massacre prompted the authorities to impose martial law in Maguindanao province at the weekend.
Police took the Ampatuan clan members, including the patriarch who is a close ally of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, into custody on Saturday.
Prosecutors said that after the killings, those charged had directed each other "to rise publicly and take arms against the Republic of the Philippines".
"There were massive formations of numerous armed civilians supported by armoured vehicles and under the command of the Ampatuans who have formed a private army to resist government troops," said the charge sheet, signed by acting Maguindanao provincial prosecutor Leo Dacera.
Ms Arroyo on Saturday suspended civil rights in Maguindanao, for the first time in nearly three decades, after the government received reports armed groups loyal to local mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. were massing in the area to challenge his arrest last month.
Ampatuan Jr. is the main suspect in the November 23rd killings, in which members of a rival political clan were attacked while they were on their way to file the candidacy of one of their leaders for elections in 2010.
Philippine police have identified 161 suspects in the massacre of 57 people last month.
Witnesses have identified Ampatuan Jr, the scion of the clan, leading the group of militiamen who stopped his rival's convoy that included 30 journalists and their staff on November 23rd in the southern province of Maguindanao, national police chief Jesus Verzosa told reporters.
Police said the militiamen, most of them still at large, were identified by witnesses. Their names will be submitted to prosecutors to be included in the charge sheet and court warrants of arrest.
Photographs of about 100 newly identified suspects were displayed at the national police headquarters in Manila. Of 161 suspects identified by authorities, 100 are militiamen and the remainder are members of the Ampatuan clan, according to police, army and local officials. About 30 have been arrested.
Mr Ampatuan turned himself in three days after the killings and denied involvement. His father, the family patriarch, and other relatives also have been arrested.
Agencies