Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Philippine authorities detained a provincial police chief and deployed 1,000 soldiers to search for suspects after gunmen killed 46 people in one of the worst acts of political violence in the nation’s history.

Abusana Maguid, the police chief of Maguindanao province, was relieved of his duties after witnesses saw three of his officers at the scene of the attack two days ago on the southern island of Mindanao, National Police spokesman Leonardo Espina said yesterday.

Maguid may bear “command responsibility” for the actions of his officers, who were also detained, Espina said. “All who are responsible will be made accountable. There will be no sacred cows.”

President Gloria Arroyo yesterday put Maguindanao and neighboring Sultan Kudarat province under a state of emergency and vowed to hunt down those behind the massacre. Many of the victims, among them women and journalists, were found in a mass grave after about 100 gunmen stopped a convoy of people on their way to file a local politician’s application to run for provincial governor, the military said.

The killings represent the worst single incident of election-related violence in the nation’s history, according to the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “condemns this heinous crime committed in the context of a local election campaign,” his office said in a statement. Ban hopes that “no effort will be spared to bring justice and to hold the perpetrators accountable.”

Vice Mayor

Buluan City Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu, who planned to run for provincial governor in elections next year, wasn’t in the convoy that came under attack. He told local media his wife was killed and that some of the women in the group were raped before they were murdered.

The military has said that backers of a rival candidate may have been involved.

Jesus Dureza, Arroyo’s adviser on Mindanao affairs, said he has met with the Mangudadatu family and relatives of Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan. The two families, who were once allies, are now political rivals, the Philippine Daily Inquirer said.

The Mangudadatus pleaded for justice, Dureza said in a phone interview late yesterday before he was cut off. The Ampatuans pledged to cooperate with any investigation, he said in a GMA News TV interview.

“No effort will be spared to bring justice to the victims and hold the perpetrators accountable,” Arroyo said yesterday. She deployed extra troops and ordered Director General Jesus Versoza, the national police chief, to lead the investigation into the killings.

Bodies Exhumed

Twenty-four bodies were exhumed yesterday, bringing the death toll to 46, Chief Superintendent Josefino Cataluna, central Mindanao police director, said in a phone interview. Police will continue to dig at the site where the bodies were found, he said.

Some 1,000 soldiers have been deployed to search for the suspects and secure Maguindanao’s “exit points,” Romeo Brawner, the armed forces spokesman, told reporters in Manila.

Arroyo declared a state of emergency to prevent further violence in the region, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said at a briefing in Manila. The last time an area in Mindanao was placed under a state of emergency was March 31, when militants from the Islamist Abu Sayyaf group threatened to behead one of three Red Cross workers who were taken hostage.

Emergency Rule

Declaring a state of emergency gives the president the authority to use the military to quell violence, Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello III said in the same briefing. It may also give the president the legal basis to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, he said. The writ allows courts to require the military or police to present persons they are holding and justify their detention.

At least 12 journalists were among those killed, Reporters Without Borders said.

“Never in the history of journalism have the news media suffered such a heavy loss of life in one day,” the Paris-based organization said in a statement, alleging there is a “culture of impunity and violence in the Philippines, especially in Mindanao.”

Elections in the Philippines are often marred by bloodshed, with provincial politicians maintaining private militias. About 126 candidates and supporters were killed in the months leading to the 2007 elections and 186 in 2004, according to the Inquirer.

The Southeast Asian nation will choose a new president and thousands of national and local officials in May. The nation’s Commission on Elections will accept filings for candidacies until Dec. 1.

Mindanao is home to most of the nation’s Muslim minority some of whom have been fighting a separatist war for decades. It’s also home to the al-Qaeda-linked militant group Abu Sayyaf and other groups engaged in kidnapping and other forms of terrorism.

To contact the reporters on this story: Cecilia Yap in Manila at cyap19@bloomberg.net; Joel Guinto in Manila at jguinto1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 24, 2009 18:59 EST