Maute clan member facing rebellion charges ordered released from detention

A member of the Maute clan has been released from detention after the Department of Justice (DOJ) found insufficient evidence to charge her with rebellion.

Najiya Dilangalen Karon Maute, alias “Najiya Sultana Dilangalen Karon,” was released on Tuesday from detention following an inquest resolution issued by the investigating panel led by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Peter Ong.

Maute was nabbed on January 23 in Barangay Rosary Heights 3, Cotabato City on the strength of Arrest Order No. 2 issued by the Department of National Defense on June 5, 2017 in connection with the Marawi siege.

However, the DOJ said the complaint filed by the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group is no longer inquestable because the alleged acts happened in May last year, thus the case should go under regular preliminary investigation.

The DOJ set the first preliminary investigation hearing for February 14.

“Complainant PNP-CIDG claims that on the basis of the statement of Martino Elyana, respondent Najiya Maute should be indicted for rebellion for aiding the Maute-ISIS group who participated in the public uprising and took arms against the government by forcibly taking over Marawi City. On two separate occasions, respondent Najiya Maute’s aid to the armed group was in the form of giving them food. However, aside from the statement of Martino Elyan, complainants did not present any other evidence against respondent,” the January 29 resolution stated.

“Besides, at the time respondent was arrested on January 23, 2018, there is no evidence or even allegation that she was committing, about to commit, or has just committed, an offense,” it added.

The prosecutors also did not consider as “overt acts of rebellion” Maute’s act of giving food to armed group and being with her husband, Mohammad Ayam Romato Maute, a member of the Maute group who died in the Marawi siege that ended in October last year. — RSJ, GMA News