COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., Basilan Gov. Mujiv Hataman and ranking state security officials met in Basilan on Tuesday morning, October 6, and discussed the intricacies and ramifications of the ambush on Monday, October 5, in Tipo-Tipo town that left 13 military servicemen wounded.
Radio reports early Tuesday had stated that Hataman, chairperson of the multi-sector Basilan Peace and Order Council, and his constituent-Muslim religious and traditional Yakan community leaders are cooperating in setting up measures to prevent any repeat of such an incident.
Teodoro was accompanied to the venue of their meeting, inside the headquarters of the 1101st Infantry Brigade in Isabela City in Basilan, by officials of the military’s Western Mindanao Command, led by its commander, Major Gen. Jose Vladimir Cagara, and the chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, Lt. Gen. Antonio Nafarrete.
Teodoro, Hataman, Cagara, the commander of the 1101st Infantry Brigade, Brig. Gen. Frederick Sales and representatives from the Basilan Provincial Police Office talked then about intensifying multi-sector and inter-agency efforts to keep the peace in the island province.
Teodoro had assured the support of the Department of National Defense for the peace and security programs of local executives in the province.
Police and Army officials confirmed on Tuesday that 12 soldiers from the Army’s 45th Infantry Battalion, not just 11 as reported earlier, and a member of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit were wounded in the ambush on Monday in Bauno Dagao area in Barangay Badja in Tipo-Tipo, one of the 11 towns in Basilan.
Basilan, one of the five provinces in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, was declared last year by regional Army and police officials, local executives and Muslim and Christian religious leaders as totally cleared from presence of the Abu Sayyaf terror group, a cross-sectional accomplishment that earned for its 11 towns and two cities the common tag “new investment frontier in BARMM."
Officials of units in the province of the Police Regional Office Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and Sales, who, as brigade commander, is overseeing all component-battalions in Basilan of the 1101st Infantry Brigade, had separately said that there are indications that the ambush last Monday in Bauno Dagao area in Barangay Badja in Tipo-Tipo, involved a criminal gang, not violent religious extremists.
Police and Army officials had separately pointed out that confidential informants had relayed to them and to Hataman that the gunmen behind the atrocity was led by the long wanted Saddam Siddick, an apparent retaliation for the death of his spouse, Nermalyn Musa-Siddick, also wanted for heinous crimes, killed in a brief clash last week with policemen and soldiers out to serve both of them warrants of arrest for high-profile criminal cases pending in different courts in Basilan.
Policemen and soldiers were to peacefully arrest the couple at their hideout in Barangay Baimbing in Lamitan City in Basilan, but both of them and their followers pulled out guns, provoking a shootout. The incident left Siddick's wife dead. He and his armed companions managed to run away before policemen and soldiers involved in the operation could surround their location.
Siddick is also reportedly known in Basilan for his involvement in large-scale peddling of shabu in the province, coddling of wanted persons in exchange for money and extortion activities victimizing local traders and owners of public transportation plying the routes in areas where he moves around.