The governor of the Phillipines' Maguindanao province, where over 60 people were killed in last week's election-related massacre, has surrendered to police, Xinhua said on Saturday.
Andal Ampatuan, Sr., the patriarch of a powerful clan in the south and a key local supporter of the incumbent Philippine president, Gloria Arroyo, has been picked up for questioning by police.
"There was no resistance," Xinhua quoted a regional military spokesman as saying.
Subpoenas have been issued to six members of the Ampatuan clan, including the leader. His son Zaldy Ampatuan, incumbent governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), was also arrested.
The move comes shortly after a declaration of a martial law in the province amid fears that militia loyal to the Ampatuan clan might incite violence. Six infantry battalions, two mechanized battalions and a battalion-size of special operations command forces were sent to the area.
The governor's another son, Andal Ampatuan, Jr., was arrested on November 26, along with 20 other suspects and charged with 25 counts of murder. He is believed to be behind the attack on a convoy of his political rivals in the forthcoming provincial elections, in which 64 people were killed.
According to the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the attack was carried out by about 100 gunmen from the so-called private army of Andal Ampatuan. The convoy was on its way to file the nomination of Esmael "Toto" Mangudadatu to contest the governorship of Ampatuan in the Maguindanao province next year.
Three eyewitnesses, who were driving behind the convoy, said in their testimonies that Ampatuan led a group of about 100 armed men. He was the first one to approach the car of Genalin Mangudadatu, the candidate's wife, who was also killed.
MOSCOW, December 5 (RIA Novosti)
