MANILA, Philippines?The court handling the rebellion case against the powerful Ampatuan clan linked to the November 23 massacre in Maguinandao on Friday opted to put off hearing an appeal by the defense panel to suspend the transfer of Andal Ampatuan Sr. to a detention facility in Metro Manila.

Judge Vivencio Baclig of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 77 scheduled the hearing instead on Tuesday so the court could tackle the issue alongside with a separate motion to determine probable cause to hold Andal Sr. and the other Ampatuans for trial.

The decision was arrived at after defense lawyer Philip Sigfrid Fortun argued that it was premature to transfer the Ampatuans to a detention facility in Manila in the absence of a probable cause to prosecute them.

Aside from Andal Sr., currently detained at the Camp Panacan Hospital in Davao City, ARMM Governor Zaldy Ampatuan, Shariff Aguak Mayor Datu Anwar, Maguindanao Vice Governor Datu Akmad Tato Ampatuan, and Datu Sajid Islam Ampatuan are also confined in other military camps.

All of them are facing a rebellion case for allegedly mobilizing its armed supporters to resist, defy and undermine the government to arrest suspects in the massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao on November 23.