3 Maute sympathizers Arrested in Lanao del Sur

ILIGAN CITY -Authorities on Tuesday, January 23, arrested three Dawlah Islamiya-Maute group sympathizers in Barangay Gacap, Piagapo, Lanao del Sur.

The three are identified as Jamal Ramal Berongan alias Mayor, Ibrahim Alek Undi alias Brad Alexander and Apao Dimacaling, all residents of the said village according

to Major Roger Suscano, officer-in-charge of the Division Public Affairs Office of the 1st Infantry ‘Tabak’ Division, Philippine Army.

Two caliber .45 pistols were seized from Dimacaling and Berongan.

The three were arrested with the help of the civilians who reported to authorities the unidentified individuals roaming in the area.

“They are not in the official list of the Maute group as members but they are verified ‘aggressive sympathizers’ of the ISISinspired group because they are armed and willing to kill military and suspected assets of the government forces,” Suscano said.

He said Dimacaling, Undi and Berongan are also on their list of persons to be arrested.

Police Senior Superintendent John Guygoyon, director of Lanao del Sur Police Provincial Office, said the three are also suspects in the killing of three civilians in Piagapo last December 2017. The civilians, who were from Misamis Oriental, were selling furniture when they were killed.

Guygoyon said there are witnesses who can point to the three as the killers of the furniture vendors but are too afraid to come out for fear of their lives.

He said the three also supposedly claimed to have killed the three civilians as revenge for the deaths of their relatives during the Marawi siege.

The suspects are now under the police custody.

“This is our challenge. It is difficult for us to pursue our case because no one will come out to witness against them. After 24 hours, we will free them but we are hoping we can press charges against them and we will do our best,” Guygoyon said.

The Piagapo town was occupied by the Daesh-inspired Maute group, a month before the attack in Marawi City last year.

This followed after the four consecutive military operations in 2016 in the town of Butig, some 30 kilometers away from Piagapo.

In Piagapo, several fighters, including some foreign-looking men, were killed in a five-day combat operations of the government forces in April 2017.

In previous interview with Gacap, Barangay Chairman Saiben Abubacar, he confirmed that an Imam in the area was one of the recruits of the terror group and was one of those killed in the military operations.