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Terror leader Hapilon's death 'good news' for his clan

John Unson - Philstar.com

October 17, 2017 | 7:00am

Terror leader Hapilon's death 'good news' for his clan

In this photo released by the 4th Civil Relations Group, Civil Relations Service Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine military chief Gen. Eduardo Año holds pictures of dead militant leaders during a press conference at a military camp in Marawi, southern Philippines on Monday, Oct. 16, 2017. 4th Civil Relations Group, Civil Relations Service Armed Forces of the Philippines via AP

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — His reign of terror spanned the terms of four presidents and his brutal death on Monday was something “providential” for his relatives.

Clan elders said the slain Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon only had four distant relatives in his group — cousins Ibrahim and Muhdi and nephews Adori and Katib.

“He brought us, his law-abiding relatives, shame and scandal through those years,” a first cousin of Hapilon and a government career service employee, told The STAR on Tuesday.

Hapilon and his ally Omar Maute, founder of the Maute terror Group, perished in a gunfight with government troops in Marawi City before dawn Monday, ending their four-month siege there that caused the deaths of hundreds and the dislocation of thousands.

READ: Duterte declares Marawi freed from terrorists

Hapilon’s relatives in Basilan said his death was an answered prayer.

Hapilon was born and raised in Barangay Bulansa in Lantawan, Basilan and studied in different public institutions in nearby towns.

Joined Abu Sayyaf as a teen

He was still an adolescent when he joined the Abu Sayyaf about two years after it was organized in 1993 by radical preacher Abduradjak Janjalani of Barangay Tabuk in nearby Isabela City.

Janjalani, who studied Islamic theology in Tripoli, Libya and in Damascus, Syria, was killed in 1996 in an encounter with police in the seaside Barangay Ulami in Lamitan City, the capital of Basilan.

“Isnilon was very good at evading enemies. He was slippery like an eel. But Allah has a way,” said another relative who lives in Isabela City.

Hapilon started as a lowly member of the Abu Sayyaf during the time of President Fidel Ramos.

He started gaining popularity only after the death in 2006 of Abu Sayyaf figurehead Khadafy Janjalani, younger sibling of Abduradjak, in an encounter with state forces in the island province of Sulu.

While he had more followers, he was only next in rank to Purudji Indama, a senior Abu Sayyaf leader in Basilan.

Self-proclaimed ISIS emir

He managed to proclaim himself in 2014 as emir of all Islamic State-inspired groups in Mindanao with the help of younger, more radical sub-leaders in the Abu Sayyaf.

He and Maute led the siege of Marawi City on May 23, sparking hostilities that Maranaos never thought will last for months.

“We were elated when we heard the news about their deaths that first spread through text messages,” grains trader Samroud Ariman said on Tuesday, referring to Hapilon and Maute.

Muslim clerics welcome news

Many Muslim clerics whom the slain Maute and his brother, Abdullah, humiliated on Facebook and in sermons inside mosques for disagreeing with their extreme interpretation of the Qur’an, were just as glad.

Abdullah was earlier reported to have died from a military airstrike at the height of hostilities in Marawi City in July.

“There are very clear verses in the Qur’an that warns of divine wrath on Muslims who would go astray and mock the Islamic faith,” Imam Amerrodin Sarip, a preacher in a Madrasah school, told The STAR Tuesday.

Sarip said many religious leaders in Marawi City and Lanao del Sur were relieved when they learned that Hapilon and Maute were both killed by soldiers before dawn Monday.

“The leaders of the Maute group tagged every preacher opposing their very wrong ideals `munafiq’ and that for us was very hurting,” said Ustadz Buhari Pendar.

Munafiq is Arabic for hypocrite, which Maute terrorists use as common label for dissenting moderate clerics and even ordinary Maranaos who are not well-versed with selected Quranic verses that they deliberately circumvent to suit their vested interests.

“It was Allah’s will that Hapilon and Maute both perish through gory deaths for Muslims to realize that Islam is a religion that never teaches extremism and hate for non-Muslims,” said Superintendent Ebra Moxsir of the Marawi City police, who is also an Islamic theologian.

Moxsir was designated Marawi City police chief last July for him to lead religious activities meant to counter the recruitment activities of the Maute terror group.