MANILA – Alleged Maute Group bomber Mohammad Naoim Maute alias Almahid Pangompig Romato has undergone inquest proceedings at Camp Evangelista in Cagayan de Oro City.
The 22-year-old suspect, said to be a close relative of Omarkhayam and Abdullah Maute who have been leading the terrorist alliance fighting government troops since the Marawi siege began May 23, was assisted bt two lawyers from the Public Attorneys Office (PAO).
He faces rebellion charges.
He was arrested last week in a rented room in Cagayan de Oro by a combined team of police, military and intelligence agents.
He is listed in Arrest Order 1, issued by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, the martial law administrator, naming hundreds of personalities linked to the terrorist plot to raid Marawi, Iligan and CDO.
Earlier, authorities captured several alleged members and supporters of the Maute group, including Cayamora and Ominta, the parents of the group’s founders Omar Khayaam and Abdullah; and former Marawi mayor Fajad Salic.
The Maute Group had prematurely launched the Marawi siege three days earlier in order to protect their ally, Isnilon Hapilon, from arrest by government agents acting on intelligence he was spotted in a house in Marawi on May 23, according to consolidated comments submitted to the Supreme Court by Solicitor General Jose Calida. The SC last week heard oral arguments on Proclamation 216 declaring martial law in Mindanao to deal with the Marawi crisis.
Hapilon has been tagged the emir for Southeast Asia by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), whose full recognition and funding Hapilon and the Mautes had been courting.
According to President Duterte and AFP chief Eduardo M. Año, ISIS-Middle East leader Abubakr al-Baghdadi had directed Hapilon to set up a caliphate in Southeast Asia, starting with Mindanao.
