COTABATO CITY (September 16, 2025) — Policemen arrested on Sunday, September 14, in Kidapawan City an alleged member of the defunct Maute terror group wanted for crimes related to its May to October 2017 siege of Marawi City in Lanao del Sur.
The 43-year-old Jamal Solaiman Romato yielded peacefully when policemen from different units of the Police Regional Office-12 arrived at his store, selling mobile phones and accessories, in the market in Kidapawan City and showed him warrants for his arrest from the Regional Trial Court Branch 266 in Taguig City in Metro Manila.
Romato, who resided in Barangay Sudapin in Kidapawan City, is wanted for kidnapping and illegal detention and other heinous crimes, according to local executives who helped the police track him down.
Lt. Col. Dominador Palgan, Jr., Chief of the Kidapawan City Police Station, told reporters on Monday, September 15, that Romato is now locked in a tightly guarded detention facility.
Palgan and his immediate superior, PRO-12’s director, Police Brig Gen. Arnold Ardiente, had separately told reporters that the arrest warrants for Romato were released by the RTC Branch 266 on September 27, 2021, signed by Judge Marivic Vitor.
The court has not recommended bail for his temporary release while under judicial litigation, according to Ardiente.
Barangay officials and traditional Maranao leaders in Lanao del Sur province had told reporters that Romato relocated to Kidapawan City after the Maute terror group’s May 23 to October 16, 2017 seige of a dozen barangays in Marawi City and, there, assumed a new name and established a small mobile phone store.
Romato is in left side of photo, listening to policemen reading the contents of the warrants for his arrest.