Additional forces sought to prevent repeat of Basilan rampage

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — Residents of Barangay Tubigan in Maluso, Basilan wants a larger Army detachment in the area to prevent a repeat of the deadly attack there on Monday by Abu Sayyaf bandits.

READ: Abus kill 9 villagers in Basilan rampage

Residents of Barangay Tubigan are known in Basilan for their utmost loyalty to the government, in conflict with lawless groups since the 1970s as members then of the now defunct Civilian Home Defense Force and presently either as civilian volunteers and para-military personnel.

Barangay residents told reporters on Tuesday that only a small team of local members of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit supervised by a soldier guards their villages of mixed Muslim and Christian settlers.

Local officials said the Abu Sayyaf gunmen who raided Barangay Tubigan early Monday could have burned down many houses there if not for the armed residents who engaged them in running gunfights.

Maluso Mayor Hanie Bud, chairman of the municipal peace and order council, said on Tuesday that four houses and the barangay children’s day care center were set by Abu Sayyaf bandits on fire while companions shot villagers fleeing from their homes.

“We in the local government unit of Maluso condemn this barbaric raid in strongest term. We are now imposing measures to prevent a repeat of such deadly incursion by the Abu Sayyaf,” Bud said.

The provincial government of Basilan and the office of Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao extended on Tuesday afternoon initial cash assistance for the medication of 16 villagers wounded in the attack.

Hataman’s office and Basilan Gov. Jim Salliman also gave out financial support to the families of the seven residents killed in the skirmishes, among them a local CAFGU member.

Aureliano Laping, barangay chairman of Tubigan, said he is apprehensive the bandits who attacked on Monday will return to avenge the deaths of companions killed by his armed constituents in the ensuing encounter.

Barangay residents claimed killing no fewer than four bandits in gunfights that lasted for more than an hour.

Laping has long been a target of the Abu Sayyaf for having joined, as leader of a local community militia, in military operations against the group during the 1990s.

His children and other relatives are also feared for their propensity in fighting lawless elements that stray into their barangay.

Laping and Bud had urged the Army’s 104th Brigade, which has jurisdiction in Basilan, a component province of ARMM, to immediately put up at least two more detachments in Barangay Tubigan.