Omarkhayam Romato Maute (June 12, 1980 – October 16, 2017) was a Moro militant who co-founded, along with his brother Abdullah Maute, a ''Dawlah Islamiyah'' (

Islamic state An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic ter ...

) group in

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...

, Philippines, commonly known as the

Maute group The Maute group ( or ), also known as the Islamic State of Lanao, was a radical Islamist group composed of former Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas and foreign fighters led by Omar Maute, the alleged founder of a ''Dawlah Islamiya'', o ...

after their surname.

Early life and education

Omar Maute was born on 12 June 1980. Siblings Omar and Abdullah Maute are descended from a Maranao warrior clan based in

Butig Butig, officially the Municipality of Butig (Maranao: ''Dalm a Butig''), is a 6th class municipality in the province of Lanao del Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 22,768 people. This ancient and royal town ...

Lanao del Sur Lanao del Sur ( tl, Timog Lanao; Maranao language, Maranao and ilp, Pagabagatan Ranao), officially the Province of Lanao del Sur, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Bangsamoro, Bangsamoro Autonomous Re ...

, the town where they were born and spent their childhood. They were born to Cayamora and Farhana Maute. The brothers had worked in the Middle East as

Overseas Filipino Workers Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) is a term often used to refer to Filipino migrant workers, people with Filipino citizenship who reside in another country for a limited period of employment. The number of these workers was roughly 1.77 million ...

. While working for secular schools in Syria and the United Arab Emirates, the brothers studied

Islamic theology Schools of Islamic theology are various Islamic schools and branches in different schools of thought regarding '' ʿaqīdah'' (creed). The main schools of Islamic Theology include the Qadariyah, Falasifa, Jahmiyya, Murji'ah, Muʿtazila, Batin ...

. Omar was reportedly educated in Egypt.

Militant activity

MILF

Philippine military The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) ( fil, Sandatahang Lakas ng Pilipinas) are the military forces of the Philippines. It consists of three main service branches; the Army, the Air Force, and the Navy (including the Marine Corps). The P ...

sources state that the siblings' padre, Cayamora Maute, was a senior official of the

Moro Islamic Liberation Front The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF; ar, ''Jabhat Taḥrīr Moro al-ʾIslāmiyyah'') is a group based in Mindanao seeking an autonomous region of the Moro people from the central government. The group has a presence in the Bangsamoro r ...

(MILF). After the MILF began to engage in peace negotiations with the

Philippine government The Government of the Philippines ( fil, Pamahalaan ng Pilipinas) has three interdependent branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The Philippines is governed as a unitary state under a presidential representative and d ...

, the brothers criticized the MILF leadership and pledged allegiance to

ISIS Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...

Maute group

The Mautes, according to their relatives, later established connections with Ameril Umbra Kato, the founder of the

Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), also known as the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement, is an Islamist militant organization based in Mindanao, the Philippines. It is a smaller player in the overall Moro insurgency in the Phili ...

(BIFF). The siblings reportedly sent representatives to Kato after the BIFF leader suffered a hypertensive stroke which rendered the left portion of his body paralyzed. After forging ties with Kato, the Mautes established the

. five other brothers also became involved in the group according to the Philippine military. A February 2016 report stated that the relatives of Omar confirmed that he had been killed during the February 2016 Butig clash, along with a younger brother named Matti. However this report would be disproved a few months later.

Battle of Marawi

In May 2017, video footage found on a cellphone captured by Philippine government troops during the

Battle of Marawi The siege of Marawi ( fil, Pagkubkob sa Marawi), also known as the Marawi crisis (), and the Battle of Marawi (), was a five-month-long armed conflict in Marawi, Philippines, that started on May 23, 2017, between Philippine government securit ...

indicated that Omar was still alive at that time. On 10 June 2017, during the Marawi crisis, the

Philippine Army The Philippine Army (PA) (Tagalog: ''Hukbong Katihan ng Pilipinas''; in literal English: ''Army of the Ground of the Philippines''; in literal Spanish: ''Ejército de la Tierra de la Filipinas'') is the main, oldest and largest branch of the ...

claimed that they were confident that the Maute duo had been killed in a firefight, although the details were not provided. This report was later disproved. In September 2017, the military stated that Omar alone among the seven Maute brothers remained alive, as the other six were killed in battle. Omar Maute was killed on October 16, 2017, along with Isnilon Hapilon.

Personal life

Omar Maute was said to be fluent in the

Indonesian language Indonesian ( ) is the official and national language of Indonesia. It is a standardized variety of Malay, an Austronesian language that has been used as a lingua franca in the multilingual Indonesian archipelago for centuries. Indonesia ...

, and was married to the daughter of a conservative Indonesian Islamic cleric. The Maute siblings include a third brother named Hashim who was detained in the Marawi City jail until 2016 when he successfully escaped. His mother, Ominta Romato Maute, also known as Farhana Maute, has been described by some sources as the financier of the Maute group's activities, providing logistics and recruiting fighters. She was arrested on June 9, 2017, in

. Her husband, Cayamora Maute, was arrested the day before in

Davao City Davao City, officially the City of Davao ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Dabaw; ), is a first class highly urbanized city in the Davao Region, Philippines. The city has a total land area of , making it the largest city in the Philippines in terms of land ...

. Cayamora Maute died in August 2017 on the way to Taguig-Pateros District Hospital after experiencing difficulty in breathing.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maute, Omar 1980 births 2017 deaths Filipino Islamists People from Lanao del Sur Moro conflict Leaders of Islamic terror groups Filipino Muslims Al-Azhar University alumni