MANILA, Philippines—A party list lawmaker on Wednesday criticized President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for giving the Ampatuans the “kid-gloves” treatment amid their alleged involvement in the Maguindanao carnage where at least 52 people died, including 13 media members.

At the same time, another congressman raised the Palace-issued Executive Order 546, which legalized the existence of private armies of local officials.

“It appears that the government is handling the Ampatuans of Maguindanao with kid gloves. Lesser mortals would have been arrested and disarmed by now especially under a state of emergency,” Bayan Muna party list Representative Teodoro Casiño said.

“A double standard is clearly being applied for GMA’s (Arroyo’s initials) warlord and electoral godfather in Maguindanao,” he added.

Police on Wednesday named Andal Ampatuan Jr., mayor of Datu Unsay and a member of Arroyo’s party Lakas-Kampi-Christian Muslim Democrats, as the prime suspect in the election-related massacre of at least 46 people Monday.

The Ampatuan son was being groomed to succeed his father, the three-term governor of Maguindanao province on Mindanao island.

Arroyo had declared a state of emergency in the provinces of Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat and in Cotabato City.

Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo said that in pratice, EO 546 allows local officials to “convert and fund their private armed groups as legal entities with a tame and even altruistic sounding name: civilian volunteer organizations (CVO).”

“This EO was the demented brainchild of Interior and DILG Secretary Ronaldo Puno. EO 546 made it legal for LGUs to mobilize, train and arm these so-called CVOs as local armed auxiliary units working under the supervision and command of the PNP to supposedly counter terrorist threats,” Ocampo said.

“Three years later, it's proven that the CVOs are nothing but private armies who kill at the slightest whim and wish of their warlord bosses. The Maguindanao massacre is the handiwork of one such private army,” he said.

“It is most likely that the CVOs who took part in this unspeakable brutality were recruited under EO 546. President Arroyo, through this infamous EO, essentially encouraged extrajudicial killings and the culture of impunity," he said.

Ocampo demanded that Malacañang immediately recall EO 546 and disband the CVOs and other legalized private armies.

Ocampo also challenged the regional and national officials of the AFP to explain why the convoy of the victims was not given a police and military escort despite requests from the victims for security detail.

Speaker Prospero Nograles said he is supporting the declaration to allow the government to confront the situation head-on.

“The state of emergency should help neutralize further incidence of bloodshed that has again tainted the country’s image before the international community,” Nograles said.

Senator Manuel Villar, standard-bearer of the Nacionalista Party (NP), said that while he backs the state of emergency, he said it should not be imposed long in the provinces and should not be made nationwide.

“Kailangang ipakita ng pamahalaan ang hustisya sa mga napatay… kung sinuman ang gumawa nito ay dapat managot. (The government must show that justice for those killed would be served…whoever did this must be punished),” Villar said.

For Representative Rafael Mariano of Anakpawis party list, the state of emergency “could serve the Ampatuans and President Macapagal-Arroyo’s continuing conspiracy on the 2004 and 2007 poll fraud.”

“Instead of swiftly and decisively carrying out the arrest of the Ampatuans, Ms Arroyo’s declaration of a state of emergency in Maguindanao will only galvanize the existing climate of fear in the province,” Mariano said in a statement.

The congressman warned of the possibility of “a Palace-led cover up on the Maguindanao carnage as part of the continuing conspiracy on the 2004 and 2007 elections.”

“The still unresolved 2004 and 2007 electoral fraud explains the Arroyo administration’s lack of political will. The truth behind the past two elections in Maguindanao has, in effect, made Ms Arroyo a political hostage of the Ampatuans,” Mariano said.