Andal Ampatuan Jr, the primary suspect in the massacre of more than 50 people in Maguindanao, Philippines, surrendered to the authorities on Thursday.

Ampatuan Jr is a local mayor in Maguindanao, a province located in the southern part of the country. He was flown out from the provincial capital by an army helicopter to be handed to the region’s top military general and a senior government official.

“The charges are baseless. They are not true. My conscience is clear,” he told reporters at an airport in General Santos City.

On Monday, about 100 armed men, believed to be Ampatuan’s followers, assaulted the members of the rival clan who were on their way to file the candidacy of Ishmael Mangudadatu for the provincial governer’s seat in the May 2010 elections.

The victims were mostly women and journalists, who were shot, raped, mutilated and buried in a remote hillside. As of the moment, 57 bodies have been found.

The administration party Lakas-Kampi-CMD has expelled the Ampatuans (Andal Sr, Andal Jr and Zaldy) from the alliance.