MANILA, Philippines - The hearing of the rebellion case against the Ampatuan clan has been reset yet again.

The court granted the request of defense lawyer Sigfrid Fortun that they be given more time to study evidence from the prosecution that a rebellion was looming in Maguindanao in November last year.

The Ampatuans are accused of staging a rebellion, as government forces began rounding up individuals allegedly involved in the November 23 Maguindanao massacre.

The next hearing is scheduled for February 22 still in Camp Crame.

Martial law justified

Meanwhile, a top military commander on Tuesday presented evidence to justify the proclamation of martial law in Maguindanao province after the massacre of 57 people in Ampatuan town in November last  year.

A radio dzMM report said Lt. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer, chief of the Armed Forces' Eastern Mindanao Command, took the witness stand after the resumption of the hearing on the rebellion cases filed against top members of the Ampatuan clan in a makeshift courtroom inside the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters.

The report said that Ferrer presented a full military report of the security forces' activities before, during and after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo placed parts of Maguindanao province under a state of martial law.

Ferrer was appointed by Malacañang as martial law administrator.

The military commander also presented intelligence reports and a graphical situational map of the alleged plan to ambush government forces.

The police and the military have claimed that before martial law was declared in the province, they received reports of sightings of several armed groups in several parts of Maguindanao.

They said the armed groups were former Civilian Volunteers Organization (CVO) members loyal to the Ampatuan clan.

Among those charged with rebellion were the clan's patriarch, former Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and his sons, suspended ARMM Governor Zaldy Ampatuan, and suspended Maguindanao acting Governor Sajid Ampatuan.

The hearing, presided over by Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Vivencio Baclig, was set to determine probable cause for the filing of rebellion charges against the Ampatuans.

Baclig has also been asked by the camp of the Ampatuans to deny the PNP's request to transfer the rebellion suspects from detention facilities in Mindanao to Metro Manila. - With a report from ANC; Nelson Lubao, radio dzMM