THE Regional Trial Court of Taguig convicted 10 members of the ‘Maute’ terrorist group who have been identified as behind the kidnapping of 6 sawmill workers in Lanao del Sur 5 years ago where two of the victims were even beheaded by the group.
In a ruling dated August 24, 2021, Judge Marivic C. Vitor, presiding judge, Branch 266, handed down the verdict of ‘reclusion perpetua’ (life sentence) without benefit of parole against the following:
Ominta ‘Farhana’ Romato Maute; Dr Russel Langi Salic; TJ Tagdaya Macabalang @Abu Tufael; Musali Mustafa @Mus/Abu Hurayra; Wendell Apostol Facturan @Muraimin; Mausan Abdullah Mamasapano; Zack Haron Villanueva Lopez;
Sohaylie Mohammad Cader; Mashory Abdul Gamama; and, Jomar Ibrahim Labay.
Five members of the group, Mustapha, Facturan, Mamasapano, Lopez and Macabalang, were previously convicted by Judge Vitor last September 29, 2020, for the deadly bombing of the Davao Night Market along Roxas Avenue that took place on September 2, 2016.
The blast claimed the lives of 15 people while at least 69 more were wounded.
Ominta, based on government documents, is the ‘matriarch’ of the Maute Group, which was founded by two of her sons, Abdullah and Omar, in 2012, as ‘Dawlah Islamiya.’
She was arrested on June 9, 2017 at a Maute ‘safehouse’ in Masiu, Lanao Del Sur.
Her husband and Maute patriarch, Cayamora, was arrested at a military checkpoint in Davao City three days previously. He died while under detention at Camp Bagong Diwa, Bicutan, on August 23, 2017.
Another of their son, Mohammad Noaim, aka, ‘Abu Jadid,’ was arrested on June 15, 2017.
Maute is among the most extremist and ferocious among the many armed groups in Mindanao and has pledged its allegiance to the ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria).
The Maute was behind the terrorist assault on Marawi City in 2017. The resulting 5-months conflict that lasted from May 23 to October 23, 2017, resulted to massive destruction in the city and whose rehabilitation is yet to be completed by the government up to now.
Among the dead during the firefight were Maute founder Omar Maute and Isnilon Hapilon, another terrorist leader who had started out as a fighter under the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and ended up as a top commander of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and the ISIS in the Philippines.
Salic, for his part, is included in the United States’ terrorist list and is awaiting extradition to the US for “terrorism financing,” according to the document furnished to Pinoy Exposé by the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), which spearheaded the intelligence buildup against the group.
The NICA also assisted in the filing of charges against the convicted terrorists spearheaded by the Department of Justice (DOJ) thru Deputy State Prosecutor Peter L. Ong.
The case build-up was boosted by the testimonies of the four surviving victims, who were not named for security reasons.
Records show that on April 4, 2016, the victims were snatched by the Maute in Bgy. Sandab, Butig, Lanao del Sur and brought to their camp in Bgy. Poctan.
There, the victims claimed they were tortured by the terrorists.
The Maute also decided to make a propaganda of the incident by beheading two of their victims before releasing the other four on April 10, 2016.
Prior to this, in February, the NICA briefer disclosed the Maute also assaulted two Philippine Army detachments in Butig.
Thru the joint effort of the various intelligence units, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation and the DOJ, the government managed to successfully build a case against the group that can stand in court.
In between the case buildup, the NICA said the Maute, under Owaydah Marohombsar, aka, ‘Abu Dar,’ assaulted the Lanao del Sur provincial jail on August 28, 2016, where they managed to free Marohombsar’s wife, Nasifah Pundug.
Pundug has been previously arrested (August 22, 2016) at a military checkpoint in Lumbayanague. Lanao del Sur, and was re-arrested again in July 2018 while in possession of bomb components, firearms and grenades.
Marohombsar, on the other hand, was killed by government troops during a clash in Tubaran, Lanao del Sur on March 14, 2019.
The cases against the Maute matriarch and her cohorts were finally filed on May 23, 2017, before the Regional Trial Court of Malabang, Lanao del Sur, with a corresponding request for change of venue to Metro Manila due to security concern.
The group is also included in the ‘Arrest, Search and Seizure Order’ (ASSO) issued by the Department of National Defense (DND) in connection with the Marawi siege.
Government prosecutors on December 12, 2017, amended the information against the group, based on new evidence gathered.
The Supreme Court subsequently approved the request for the transfer of venue and the cases landed in the sala of Judge Vitor.