MALACAÑANG has in mind a retired justice of the Supreme Court to head up the new Commission on Private Armies that was created by President Macapagal-Arroyo in response to the Maguindanao massacre.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde yesterday said the President had made her choice but was deferring the formal announcement until the former magistrate returned from abroad.

It took Malacañang nearly a month to assemble the panel.

Remonde, however, made it clear the delay did not mean the President was having a hard time convincing people to be a part of the commission.

?We?re not having difficulties. We have a lot of patriots who are ready to serve for the good of our country,? he said in Filipino on his weekly program aired over the government?s Radyo ng Bayan.

Work cut out

Remonde said the seven-member commission will work for the dismantling of all private armed groups in the country before the May 10 elections.

This after the Maguindanao massacre of Nov. 23 in which 57 people were killed in the worst election violence in the country perpetrated allegedly by members of the Ampatuan clan and their armed followers.

The Ampatuans, who were the most influential political family in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, reportedly have a private army of 4,000 men.

They were close to President Arroyo and were said to have delivered crucial votes for her in the 2004 and 2007 elections.

Arroyo?s resolve

Asked if President Arroyo had the resolve to bring down private armies considering that some of her closest political allies were known to maintain them, Remonde said: ?Definitely.?

?In fact, that?s the mandate of the commission created by the President,? he said. ?The commission is being given very broad powers to investigate, to tap all the agencies of government, with the end-view of being able to finish its work of investigating, prosecuting, if necessary, and submitting its final recommendations for executive action before the May elections.?

Joining the former SC justice on the commission are Butuan Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos, Mahmod Mala Adilao of the Bishops-Ulama Conference, retired Brig. Gen. Jaime Echeverria, retired police officer Virtus Gil, broadcaster Herman Basbano and anticrime advocate Dante Jimenez.