NBI clears 2 kids earlier tagged of helping Maute members

National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) building. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has cleared the two-year-old and 10-year-old children identified in the government’s lookout order of individuals who “aided and abetted” the Maute group in attacking Marawi City.

Both the two-year-old and 10-year-old children, accompanied by their family, appeared before the NBI on Wednesday to clear their names because some of them are surnamed “Maute” while others, with the surname “Bandrang,” are their relatives.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said their identities will be verified and vetted with the lookout order and arrest order issued by the government.

He added that they will be questioned and will undergo medical examination.

READ: Maute gunmen in their teens

NBI Spokesman Ferdinand Lavin said the two children have been cleared while their relatives are still being processed.

Both children are on the government’s lookout order, which contains 18 names based on intelligence reports.

READ: 18 people surnamed Maute want to clear their names

The two-year-old child will turn three, having been born September 20, 2014, while the 10-year-old boy will turn 11 as his birthday was on August 26, 2006.

Aside from the two, included in the lookout list of the government is an 11-year-old girl who will turn 12 on July 9, and another girl who turned 13 last March 28.

The family said they went to the NBI for fear that they might be arrested because of having the same surname as the group leading the attack in Marawi City, prompting President Rodrigo Duterte to declare martial law. JPV

Related story: 2-yr-old boy in gov’t lookout list of persons helping Maute group