Philippines - school raid on Mindanao island

Dozens of children, teachers abducted by tribesmen

Article published on the 2009-12-10 Latest update 2009-12-10 11:53 TU

Demonstrators in Manila carry mock coffins Thursday during a protest to condemn last month's election-related massacre in Maguindanao province
(Photo: Reuters)

Tribal gunmen raided a school in the volatile southern Philippines on Thursday and abducted at least 75 people, many of them children. Local police say some of the kidnappers were facing criminal charges, including murder, and are demanding those charges be dropped.

The mass kidnappings continued a raft of crimes for the Mindanao region in recent weeks, following the beheading of a logging company employee on Wednesday and a political massacre that left 57 people dead.

Fifteen armed members of the Manobo tribe attacked the New Maasim Elementary School in Agusan del Sur province, on Mindanao island, as children were attending a morning flag ceremony. Seventeen children and one teacher were later freed.

Fifty-seven people are still being held, including two employees of a logging firm, three other teachers and the school principal.

Police said the kidnappers were being led by Ondo Perez, a local tribal leader, who had issued a raft of demands including the arrest of a local rival, Joel Cubay, who he accused of being behind the murders of another member of the Perez family. They are also demanding pre-existing criminal charges be dropped.

"They want the government to lift all arrest warrants against them. Police have been looking for them for a long time. We were supposed to serve warrants today, that's why they kidnapped those people."

The Mindanao region is an extremely volatile part of the south-east Asian archipelago that makes up the southern third of the country.

Philippine lawmakers engaged in heated debate Thursday over President Gloria Arroyo's controversial martial law to quell an alleged rebellion by a powerful clan accused of a political massacre.

Opposition members of both houses of Congress moved to overturn what they said was the "unconstitutional" imposition of military rule in the southern province of Maguindanao on Friday, but conceded they were unlikely to succeed.

Arroyo's critics voiced fears that she may expand martial law to cover the whole country in a bid to prolong her six-year term beyond next year.

Arroyo last week placed Maguindanao under military control for up to 60 days after members of the powerful Ampatuan clan allegedly threatened to attack if its leaders were arrested for the November massacre.

Since martial law was imposed, more than 60 people have been rounded up, including five clan leaders who have since been charged with rebellion.