Missing beauty pageant bet: CIDG appeals dismissal of raps vs ex-cop

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna, Philippines — The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) has appealed the dismissal of the charges filed against a former police major and his driver, who were tagged in the disappearance of beauty pageant candidate Catherine Camilon.

The CIDG filed on Thursday a motion for reconsideration of the decision of the Calabarzon prosecutor’s office.

The investigator-on-case from the CIDG regional field unit 4-A was accompanied by Rosario Camilon and her daughter Ching-Ching, mother and sister, respectively, of the victim, in filing the motion for reconsideration.

Col. Jack Malinao, CIDG-Calabarzon chief, assured the family of Camilon that the Philippine National Police, particularly the CIDG, “will never leave them in their fight for justice.”

”We will exhaust all legal remedies to indict all who caused the disappearance of the beauty queen,” Malinao said.

In a resolution issued on April 23, the Calabarzon prosecutor’s office dismissed the kidnapping and serious illegal detention cases filed against former police major Allan de Castro and Jeffrey Magpantay for lack of evidence.

It said there was no evidence to prove that De Castro and Magpantay were associates and that they conspired to commit the crimes filed against them.

Magpantay has been released from the Balayan police lockup.

Camilon, a candidate in the 2023 Miss Grand Philippines, was supposed to meet De Castro on Oct. 12 last year when she went missing. The two reportedly had a relationship.