Maj. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer, Eastern Mindanao Command chief and military rule commander in Maguindanao, on Monday called on the 4,000-strong members of the paramilitary civilian volunteer organization (CVO) to peacefully surrender to government troops.

Ferrer said government troops on Sunday started a total manhunt of the Maguindanao CVO members and that they have rounded up close to 300 male civilians but many were freed after they turned out to be ordinary citizens.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Ponce, 6th Infantry Division spokesperson, said several CVO members have expressed intentions to surrender and clear their names in the massacre of 57 people last November 23 that triggered the Martial Law declaration in the province.

"Some have been disarmed, others flee and others signified their intentions to surrender," Ponce said.

Chief Supt. Felicisimu Khu, chief of PNP's Task Force 12 Alpha, said: "If they have nothing to do with the massacre and they show up, they will be accommodated."

“We are pursuing without let up the manhunt against the CVOs involved in the massacre," Khu said.

Close to 3,000 soldiers and policemen have been deployed in the towns of Shariff Aguak, Mamasapano, Datu Unsay, Datu Hofer and nearby towns to restore normalcy and law and order.

Director General Jesus Verzosa, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said they received reports that armed men are planning to defy government authorities not only to protect the interest of the Ampatuans but also that of the clan’s allies who have been lording it over the province for several years now.

“We have to consider that these people have enjoyed power in the area for a long time, so they see any change as a threat to them,” said Verzosa.

Quoting intelligence reports, Verzosa said some 500 armed men were spotted massing up in Ampatuan town where the massacre of 57 people occurred on November 23 while another 500 were monitored in remote areas in Datu Unsay town where the principal suspect in the carnage, Andal Ampatuan, Jr., is a the local chief executive.

He added that some groupings composed of 40, 70 and 80 people were also spotted in other areas in Maguindanao.

“We also received reports that those armed men involved in the massacre have also linked up with some sympathizers; we are now currently scouring several areas in Maguindanao to look for them,” said Verzosa.

“We don’t know if they are willing to kill and to be killed but our objective is to look for them and disarm them,” he stressed.

So far, Verzosa said they only received one case of actual gun battle between Ampatuan supporters and government forces since Martial Law in the province was declared on Saturday.

“We are expecting clashes because they are armed,” he said.

Officials said elite members of the police Special Action Force (SAF) clashed on Sunday night with a group of Ampatuan supporters.

Chief Supt. Leonardo Espina, PNP spokesman, said elements of the 4th Special Action Battalion were on patrol as part of the efforts to locate another Ampatuan armory when the gunfight erupted in Barangay Meta in Datu Unsay town at 8:15 p.m.

“Our personnel encountered 20 heavily-armed militia in the area... the armed men offered stiff resistance against the government security forces,” said Espina.

Officials said the armed men only withdrew upon the arrival of two V-150 armored fighting vehicles sent to reinforce the government forces. They added that the gunfight lasted for 10 minutes.

The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) meanwhile padlocked on Monday the executive and treasury buildings of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to inventory its resources in the wake of the massacre.

ARMM employees said a copy of memorandum from the DILG was posted beside the padlocked gate of the regional executive building, which houses the office of the regional governor and the administrative and finance divisions here.

The memorandum was signed by Police Director Andre G. Caro II of the PNP in behalf of DILG Secretary Ronaldo Puno and was addressed to the DIPO of the PNP Western Mindanao Office under police director Felizardo Serapio Jr.

Under the same memorandum dated Dec. 1, the gates of the Maguindanao provincial capitol and the municipal halls of Shariff Aguak, Ampatuan and Datu Unsay towns were also padlocked.

For its part, the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) allowed government troops to enter its “controlled" areas in Maguindanao for the first time in a show of cooperation in the raging manhunt against the massacre suspects.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said on Sunday it would step aside and allow the military use of its rebel bases in Maguindanao to launch pursuit operations against armed supporters of the Ampatuan clan.

Kabalu said the MILF decided to cooperate with the military after government peace negotiators assured them that martial law was declared in the province primarily to go after the powerful Ampatuan clan and other suspects in the election-linked massacre.

Government security forces have already arrested or held for questioning at least 64 people including members of the Ampatuan clan led by its patriarch former Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and ARMM Governor Zaldy Ampatuan.