MANILA - A politician whose wife, sisters and relatives were among 57 people killed in the southern Philippines because he wanted to contest elections next year, registered his candidacy on Friday.

Esmael "Toto" Mangudadatu said the massacre had not altered his plans to run for the post of governor of Maguindanao province in the May 2010 polls.

"Only death can stop me from running for governor," he told reporters after submitting nomination papers at a local election commission office.

Mangudadatu's 50-vehicle convoy to the office was escorted by soldiers and combat-trained police units, passing along the same highway where his wife's caravan, which included dozens of journalists, was stopped by about 100 armed men on Monday.

They were on the way to the election office to file Mangudadatu's candidacy papers. Fifty seven were shot and hacked to death and most of them buried in three shallow graves on a hillside off the highway.

The victims included 27 journalists and seven people who were not part of the convoy. Those seven were killed because they witnessed the crime.

Andal Ampatuan Jr, a local mayor in Maguindanao and the main suspect in the murders, was arrested after he voluntarily submitted himself for investigation on Thursday. He has denied any role in the murders but has been imprisoned in Manila.

The Ampatuan clan has long feuded with the Mangudadatu family.

On Friday, Mangudadatu was accompanied to the election office by former defense secretary Gilberto Teodro, presidential candidate of the pro-administration Lakas-Kampi CMD coalition.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, a key political ally of the Ampatuans, has given the interior secretary permission to suspend all local officials in Maguindanao who may have a role in the crime, Cerge Remonde, the press secretary, told reporters.

Remonde said formal charges could be filed against Andal later in the day or over the weekend.

The ruling party has also expelled the Ampatuans.