Driver linked to missing beauty queen Catherine Camilon’s case surrenders to police

MANILA, Philippines – A suspect in the disappearance of beauty queen Catherine Camilon surrendered to the Balayan Municipal Police Station in Batangas on Tuesday, January 9. 

In a press release, the Police Regional Office 4A identified the suspect as Jeffrey Ariola Magpantay. 

According to authorities, the 33-year-old resident of Barangay San Roque, Rosario, Batangas personally appeared at the station to voluntarily submit himself. He was accompanied by his live-in partner. 

Magpantay is believed to be the driver of Police Major Allan de Castro, the main suspect in Camilon’s case. De Castro earlier admitted that he had a relationship with the beauty queen. 

Magpantay was among the four suspects that were charged with kidnapping and serious illegal detention. 

Authorities added that Magpantay is determined to cooperate with the legal process by submitting a waiver of detention signed by his legal counsel.

Camilon was first reported missing on October 12. Her mother Rose Camilon said that she last had a conversation with her daughter around 8 pm of October 12, wherein she was told that the 26-year-old high school teacher was at a gasoline station in Bauan and was going to a meeting in Batangas City.

Two witnesses claimed that they saw a bloodied, unconscious Camilon being transferred by three men from her gray Nissan Juke to a red Honda CRV in Bauan town on the night of October 12. The witnesses added that the men carrying Camilon saw them, and that one pointed a gun at them. 

On November 8, the vehicle was found in a vacant lot at Barangay Dumuclay, Batangas City. The PNP Forensic Group reported that 17 hair strands, fingerprints, and 12 swabs of blood samples were found inside. 

On November 20, authorities confirmed that the DNA evidence collected from the abandoned vehicle had matched with her relatives’ own DNA. 

Camilon, who represented Tuy, Batangas in the Miss Grand Philippines 2023 pageant in July, was last seen alive at a mall in Lemery town. – Rappler.com