(Eagle News) — The patriarch of the Maute clan, Cayamora Maute, his second wife and two other companions were transferred to a secure Metro Manila jail facility past midnight Wednesday, a day after they were arrested at a Davao City checkpoint.
The 67-year old father of the Maute brothers Abdullah and Omarkhayam who were responsible for forming the Maute terror group is now inside the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) jail complex inside Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.
With Cayamora Maute are his second wife Kongan Alfonso Balawa, his daughter Norjanna Maute and her husband Benzar Tingao.
They were transported via a military plane to Manila on Wednesday.
“He is the patriarch and head of the Maute clan. He is a high-value individual and a high-risk individual,” Gilbert Gapay, martial law spokesperson for Eastern Mindanao, said.
Gapay said while the military has not received “direct reports” on plots to rescue the patriarch, a look at how the Maute group operates shows that they rescue “ordinary members.”
“What more (Maute) who is a head of the clan,” he said.
“We are also prepared for some level of retaliatory attacks or diversionary attacks here in the area of Eastern Mindanao,” Gapay added.
Asked if that would not expose Metro Manila to some degree of risk, Gapay said this could not be discounted.
He said, however, that security forces were “getting ready for any eventualities like this.”
According to Gapay, the elder Maute’s group came from Cotabato and were “in transit to Kidapawan or Tagum” when they decided to go to Davao, where they were arrested.
When they were stopped at the Davao City checkpoint, Maute claimed he was on his way to the doctor to have his swollen feet and legs checked up.
“Pumunta ako dito para sa doctor kasi masakit ang paa ko,” he told reporters in an interview in Davao shortly after he was stopped by authorities.
He has denied knowing about his sons’ terrorist activities or connection with the international terror group ISIS.
The Maute brothers, his sons, were reportedly radicalized while studying abroad.
Gapay said authorities have been receiving reports the elder Maute was spotted in one of the barangays in Marawi at the start of the attack of the Maute terrorists weeks ago.
“But this is one info we are still verifying,” Gapay said.
