CIDG releases arrested Maguindanao village councilor

KIDAPAWAN CITY - For lack of evidence, police authorities released a Maguindanao village councilor they arrested after a 9mm pistol was confiscated from him when they raided his house last week. Reports from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) said that Rasid Madidis, councilor of Barangay Damawato in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao, was ordered released from their custody due to lack of evidence. Accordingly, the 9mm pistol the CIDG has confiscated during the raid belonged to Madidis’s brother who is a member of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Maguindanao. The policeman was allegedly able to secure permit of his pistol, which was used as basis by the Cotabato City Prosecution Office, to dismiss the complaints filed against Madidis. It was not clear, though, why the cop’s pistol was inside Madidis’s house during the raid, when in truth and in fact, the guy does not live there,” said a CIDG agent who requested anonymity. Meantime, complaints of violation of a provision of the Republic Act 10591 or the Comprehensive Act on the Illegal Possession of Firearms and Ammunition were slapped against a certain Mama Andang, who, along with Madidis, was also raided by elements of the CIDG and the Regional Public Safety Battalion (RPSB). Andang, according to CIDG reports, was not in his house when authorities seized two armalite rifles and a caliber 45 pistol. The suspect has also failed to secure permits as proof the guns are licensed, the reports added. The complaints were already submitted to the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Cotabato City for the issuance of a warrant to arrest Andang. The CIDG said they conducted the raid after they validated the reports that Andang and Madidis were keeping unlicensed guns and illegal drugs in their areas