<\/p>\n
A DISMISSED major and his driver tagged as prime suspects in the disappearance of Batangas beauty pageant contestant Catherine Camilon on Saturday were arrested in Balayan, Batangas.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n A Police Regional Office 4-A report identified the suspects as ex-Police Major Allan de Castro and his driver-bodyguard Jeffrey Magpantay.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n De Castro and Magpantay were previously charged with kidnapping and serious illegal detention, following the 2023 case of the missing woman.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Last May 15, the charges against De Castro and Magpantay were dropped by the regional Prosecutor\u2019s Office for lack of evidence, prompting the PRO4-A to release them from custody, although they were continued to be placed under monitoring.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n However, the suspects are now facing the same charges, with no recommended bail, issued by a Batangas Regional Trial Court.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n De Castro has maintained his innocence of the charges filed against him.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n De Castro was previously cited in contempt for allegedly not telling the truth before the Senate and held for two days before being released.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The former PNP official was reported to be in a relationship with the beauty queen before she disappeared on the day she was supposedly set to meet De Castro.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Camilon was last seen passing some towns in Batangas with an unidentified companion on October 12, 2023. Witnesses later told PRO4-A investigators that they saw Camilon being transferred to another vehicle on the same day.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hair strands and bloodstains found inside the recovered vehicle later matched with the DNA of Camilon\u2019s parents.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Last January 6, PRO4-A director Brig. Gen. Paul Kenneth T. Lucas ordered the dismissal from the service of De Castro after he was found guilty by the Regional Internal Affairs Service 4-A of conduct unbecoming of a police officer.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A DISMISSED major and his driver tagged as prime suspects in the disappearance of Batangas beauty pageant contestant Catherine Camilon on Saturday were arrested in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8676"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8676"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8678,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8676\/revisions\/8678"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}