PNP in ‘constant communication’ with main suspect in Camilon case

Beauty queen Catherine Camilon. (File photo from the Facebook account of Miss Grand Philippines)

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) has been keeping in touch with dismissed Police Maj. Allan De Castro, the primary suspect in the disappearance of beauty queen Catherine Camilon, according to Brig. Gen. Paul Kenneth Lucas, chief of the Calabarzon Police Regional Office (PRO 4A).

“In relation to the ongoing investigation, there is a constant communication between PNP and Major De Castro. So if we ever need to summon him, he’s just there. He is not hiding,” Lucas said in a phone interview.

“Actually, he is willing to attend the Senate hearing. Unfortunately, the night before, he rushed his eight-month pregnant wife to the hospital. But he promised to attend the next one.”

READ: Senate panel summons suspects in Catherine Camilon’s disappearance

According to previous reports, De Castro was discharged last January 16 after being found guilty of conduct unbecoming of a police officer. The decision came as a result of a series of investigations conducted by the Calabarzon Regional Internal Affairs Service, uncovering evidence of an extramarital affair between DeCastro and Camilon.

He is currently facing kidnapping and serious illegal detention charges with his driver, Jeffrey Magpantay, and two other “John Does.”

De Castro was the supposed friend Camilon was about to meet when she disappeared on October 12 last year. Magpantay was one of the three men that witnesses allegedly saw transferring the beauty queen’s body from her car to another vehicle.

The case was filed against them after the members of the PRO 4-A Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) recovered an abandoned car similar to the witnesses’ description in a vacant lot at the corner of Dumuclay Road and Star Tollway in Barangay Pallocan East on November 9.

Police said the car, which had no license plate, was taken to Camp General Miguel C. Malvar in Batangas City for forensic examination. Results later showed that the DNA of the hair strands recovered in the red Honda CRV matched Camilon’s parents’ DNA.

Meanwhile, the deputy chief of  PRO 4-A CIDG, Maj. Nilo Morallos, also revealed that Camilon might already be dead based on the accounts of their witnesses.

On Tuesday, the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs began its investigation on the case, which stemmed from the proposed Senate Resolution Nos. 913 and 767, both filed by Sen. Raffy Tulfo.

However, De Castro skipped the probe to tend to his pregnant wife. As a result, the Senate panel issued a subpoena to him and Magpantay, who, according to his legal counsel, was “sick.”