DAVAO CITY?Doctors have declared Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., head of a powerful clan blamed for the massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao, physically fit to be jailed, but military officials said he was safer in the military hospital here.

Ampatuan, 70, a key ally of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, was arrested on rebellion charges on Dec. 5, a day after martial law, which lasted eight days, was proclaimed in the province.

He was first detained at a private hospital, from where he was whisked away a week later to the Camp Panacan Station Hospital.

The governor is also under investigation for multiple murder in connection with the Nov. 23 massacre of supporters of his political rival, Esmael Mangudadatu, and 30 journalists who were to cover the filing of his gubernatorial candidacy in the May elections.

?He is suffering from diseases that can be managed even if he is an outpatient,? said Dr. Rhoda Franco, Ampatuan?s attending physician.

What is being monitored now, she said, is Ampatuan?s diabetes and blood pressure that still is within the normal range. His other vital signs, she said, are also within normal limits. ?The patient is stable.

?He is OK,? Franco said.

Jail awaits governor

Col. Julieto Ando, spokesperson of the Eastern Military Command, said that Ampatuan would be safer at the camp hospital.

Military officials, fearing either reprisals or supporters attempting to spring Ampatuan from jail, last week pleaded with a Davao court?and got approval?to forego his appearance on a petition for the writ of habeas corpus.

?After the inquest, the ideal thing is for him to be committed to a civilian detention facility,? said Carlos Zarate, secretary general of the Union of People?s Lawyers in Mindanao.

?But there are, of course, many considerations for that ? It appears that his continued detention in Camp Panacan is for his protection,? he said.

?But sooner than later, we will see him being brought to a civilian detention facility. The regular process is being followed.?

Ampatuan and four of his sons, including Zaldy, the governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, are among at least 24 people named in the rebellion charge sheet for allegedly resisting government efforts to arrest suspects in the massacre.

Three of the sons are detained by police at General Santos City and the other, Andal Jr., is confined at the National Bureau of Investigation jail in Manila.

Hearing reset

Ampatuan Jr., mayor of Datu Unsay town, has been charged with 57 counts of murder and is the only suspect detained in connection with the massacre.

Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 was scheduled to hear the charges against Ampatuan Jr. on Tuesday in proceedings to be held at Camp Crame, headquarters of the Philippine national Police.

But Midas Marquez, spokesperson of the Supreme Court, said Monday the hearing had been reset after the holidays because Camp Crame was still preparing its facilities.

?We are still going to coordinate with Camp Crame officials,? Marquez said.

On Monday, Sigfrid Fortun, Ampatuan Jr.?s lawyer, asked Reyes to direct officials of the Department of Justice to explain why they should not be cited in contempt for bringing the massacre suspect to a DoJ preliminary investigation Friday.

Circus spectacle

Fortun said in a four-page motion that there was no practical purpose for the procedure other than ?whet the media and the public?s appetite for a circus spectacle.?

Angry journalists attacked Ampatuan Jr. as he was being led out of the department, injuring him.

The slaughter of the 30 journalists was the worst in one incident anywhere in the world, making the Philippines the most dangerous place for reporters on earth after Iraq and Afghanistan.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Gary Olivar Monday said the journalists? anger was ?understandable.? But, he added, ?nothing justifies taking the law into your own hands.?

Leila de Lima, chair of the Commission on Human Rights, said at the weekend that even accused mass murderers like the Ampatuans had the right to be presumed innocent until proven otherwise. With reports from Norman Bordadora, Julie M. Aurelio and Christian V. Esguerra