LUBAO, Pampanga, Philippines?Malacañang slammed the door Tuesday on the Ampatuan clan?s being readmitted to the administration unless their members are first cleared of culpability in the Maguindanao massacre.

?They stand charged [with] a crime against humanity,? Press Secretary Cerge Remonde told reporters here.

?They stand charged [with] something that has become a big black-eye against the nation and therefore, they have to clear themselves first before they can stand before the honorable [members] of the ruling party and the administration.?

Remonde was reacting to the appeal of Governor Zaldy Ampatuan of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao for the administration to reconsider the family?s expulsion from the ruling party.

Presidential candidate Gilbert Teodoro, the party chair, initiated the expulsion of the Ampatuans from the Lakas-Kampi-CMD party shortly after they were implicated in last week?s mass killings in Maguindanao, which claimed at least 57 lives.

Remonde said the Ampatuans were ?big enough and strong enough to take care of themselves,? but admitted that the massacre placed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in a difficult position.

?That?s how difficult the situation of the President is?damned if she does, damned if she doesn?t,? he said. ?If the Ampatuans were not immediately arrested, she [would have been accused of] coddling the Ampatuans.?

Arroyo is said to owe a lot to the clan, who delivered landslide votes for her in Maguindanao in the 2004 presidential election against the late Fernando Poe Jr.

The Ampatuans were also considered the architect of the administration ticket?s improbable 12-0 victory in the province in the 2007 senatorial race.

The mass killings?and the international demand for justice for the victims?remain a key issue under Arroyo?s regime, even if attention has been directed to her congressional bid in the coming May elections.

As if to show that she was still in charge of the national government, Arroyo will preside over a command conference and visit the wake of some of the victims in Maguindanao this week, according to Remonde.

Asked why Arroyo was paying a visit only now when many of the victims had been buried, her mouthpiece replied: ?Why not??

Last week, the President opted to visit her home province of Pampanga despite expectations she would fly to Maguindanao for a closer look at the situation there in the aftermath of the massacre.

Remonde said Arroyo had to wait till the order was restored in the province.

?It would be irresponsible for any President to go when the authorities have not yet secured [the area] or restored order,? he said.