Philippine government prosecutors started Monday the inquest proceedings against 24 persons, including former Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan, Sr. and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Governor Zaldy Ampatuan, for the rebellion charges filed against them by the Philippine National Police.

Members of the Ampatuan family, one of the most powerful clans in southern Philippines, are the top suspects behind the Nov. 23 killing of 57 civilians, including women asnd journalists, in Maguindanao.

Philippine Acting Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera said in a press briefing that if probable cause is established during the proceedings, the case will immediately be brought to the Cotabato Regional Trial Court.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo put the entire province of Maguindanao Friday night under martial law to curb " lawless violence" following the November 23 massacre. Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan, Jr. is now in the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation and has been charged with 25 counts of murder.

The clan patriarch, Ampatuan, Sr., was arrested Saturday, but is now in a military hospital after suffering from hypertension.

Devanadera defended the implementation of martial rule in the province.

"It's not purely lawless violence anymore. It's really a government already, all on its own, headed by the Ampatuans," she said.

She also dismissed speculations that martial rule in this province will spillover to the rest of the country.

The martial rule in Maguindanao "is not something that will be prolonged, as long as the reason is no longer there," Devandera said.