President Arroyo Tuesday placed Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat and Cotabato City under a state of emergency and ordered a swift and impartial probe into the gruesome massacre of dozens of people in the election hotspot in Mindanao.

Under Proclamation No. 1946, the President directed the military and police to curb lawlessness and ensure safety of the people in the three areas under emergency declaration.

Mrs. Arroyo approved the recommendation of the security cluster of the Cabinet on the emergency declaration in the two provinces and one city during a meeting in Malacañang.

“There is an urgent need to prevent and suppress the occurrence of several other incidents of lawless violence,” the Chief Executive said in the proclamation, as she denounced the barbaric killing of many people, including journalists, by gunmen in Maguindanao last Monday.

Under the proclamation, the President authorized the police and military “to undertake such measures as maybe allowed by the Constitution and by law to prevent and suppress all incidents of lawless violence in the aforesaid areas.”

The state of emergency, which allows warrantless arrests, crackdown on private armies, and disarmament of civilians in the concerned areas, will remain enforced until lifted or withdrawn by the President.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said the President has also asked authorities to immediately conduct an “impartial” probe into the incident amid reports the powerful Ampatuan clan is involved in the atrocity.

Remonde, speaking to reporters in the Palace, assured that the investigation by the police, National Bureau of Investigation, and the Commission on Human Rights would be “transparent and impartial”, adding the government would prosecute the perpetrators regardless of power and influence.

“It has to be pointed out that the parties involved in this conflict are both allies of the administration. It is a misimpression to believe that only one party is an ally of the administration. Both parties involved in the conflict are allies of the administration,” he said.

Remonde said Buluan, Maguindanao Vice Mayor Ismael Mangudadatu, husband of one of the slain victims, was even in constant touch with the President since Monday night about the incident.

“The President has assured an impartial investigation in this unconscionable, barbaric and dastardly act no matter who is hurt,” he said.

Presidential adviser on Mindanao affairs Jesus Dureza was designated head of the crisis committee that would put behind bars the group behind the brutal massacre.

Mrs. Arroyo announced the appointment of Dureza, her former press secretary, at the start of the Cabinet meeting in Malacañang as she pledged to enforce the full force of the law against the perpetrators.

It was Dureza who earlier recommended the imposition of state of emergency in Maguindanao and the disarming of all people in the area following the abduction and murder of at least 43 people by reportedly political rivals.

Dureza, who has condemned the gruesome murders of Mangudadatu family members, lawyers, and some journalists, claimed that anything less of his recommendations would not work.

On the alleged involvement of the Ampatuan political clan, a known ally of the administration, Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello III assured there would be “no sacred cows” in the government’s quest for justice in the “unprecedented crime against humanity.”

“Walang kinikilangan ang ating batas at ang ating katarungan. Kung sino ang may kagagawan nito ay dapat managot agad,” Bello said.

Bello also disputed speculations the government is providing sanctuary to the Ampatuan family amid the reported meeting between President Adviser on Political Affairs Gabriel Claudio and ARMM Gov. Datu Zaldy Uy Ampatuan in Malacañang last Monday while the abduction and killings took place.

Vice President Manuel “Noli” De Castro said the national government should immediately take a direct hand at restoring law and order in Maguindanao and to finally put an end to warlordism.

“These barbaric acts have no place in a civilized society,” De Castro said in a statement. “The perpetrators, no matter what power or political influence they wield, should be brought to justice.”

At least five police officials were sacked from their posts over the massacre as authorities continuously scour the jungles of Ampatuan town and nearby areas to locate at least 12 other persons who are believed to have been also killed and buried somewhere in the province.

On Monday night, Director General Jesus Verzosa, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), relieved Chief Insp. Sukarno Dicay after initial investigation revealed that he was spotted among the more than 100 armed men who blocked the convoy of the Mangudadatus and local journalists at around 9 a.m. at Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman in Ampatuan town.

“He (Dicay) is being implicated in the incident together with other CAFGUs (Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit)... This is because he was seen at the crime scene together with CAFGUs,” said Chief Supt. Leonardo Espina, PNP spokesman.

Espina said the officer-in-charge of the Maguindanao Provincial Police Office, Sr. Supt. Abusana Maguid and three other officials were also relieved from their posts.

CHR Chair Leila M. de Lima has condemned the massacre and tagged the beheading, mutilation and rape of the victims as “an outrage.”

De Lima stressed the violent mass murder is unprecedented in Philippine political history and condemned the perpetrators of the massacre and the masterminds as “beasts.”

Riding in six vans, the members of the convoy sent by Buluan, Maguindanao Vice Mayor Ishmael “Toto” Mangudadatu to file his certificate of candidacy (CoC) for governor at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao was stopped by more than 100 armed men in Ampatuan town.

The bodies of 21 victims were found in Masalay, Datu Abdullah Sangki, two kilometers away from where the convoy was stopped. At least six of the dead were beheaded, including Genalyn Tiamzon Mangudadatu, the wife of Toto Mangudadatu. His sisters were also executed.

Of the 21 dead, 13 were women. At least 13 of the victims were journalists.

“This is an outrage,” De Lima said. “Imagine... it was not enough that they were unarmed, but they had to behead women?” (Aaron B. Recuenco and Marvyn N. Benaning)