CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/28 October)—The gunmen from the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), the armed wing of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), have started to return to their communities after briefly laying siege to the town hall of Tipo-Tipo, Basilan, ending nearly 24 hours of tension.
Basilan Governor Mujiv Hataman said the armed men, estimated to be nearly a hundred fighters, had agreed to return to their village in Barangay Baguindan, also in Tipo-Tipo town, accompanied by a team from the MILF Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities Tuesday afternoon.
“They left in several batches but their departure was hindered by heavy rains in the area,” Hataman said.
But Hataman said sporadic gunfire can still be heard even as the MILF fighters returned to their homes.
He said four civilians were wounded, one seriously that the patient had to be evacuated to Zamboanga City.
According to the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWDO) of Tipo-Tipo, more than seven thousand individuals or 1400 families were evacuated from Baguindan barangay because of the incident.
The BIAF fighters had begun gathering at the Basilan Circumferential Road at Tipo-Tipo proper in the afternoon of October 27, 2025. By about 7 AM, Tuesday, October 28, an armed confrontation had erupted between the group and government forces in the downtown area of Tipo-Tipo.
The gunmen had encircled the Tipo-Tipo town hall demanding the surrender of one of the suspects in the killing of Ustadz Nadzmi Asdana Tarahin, 40, a ulama and a councilman of Barangay Baguindan at the passenger terminal in Lamitan City in Basilan last October 21.
Hataman said two suspects who served as lookouts have been arrested by the policemen in Lamitan days ago but the MILF fighters believed a third suspect was at the town hall reportedly working as a security personnel hired by the Tipo-Tipo local government.
“The MILF fighters who were relatives of Tarahin went to the town hall to demand for the LGU to turn over the suspect to them. Naturally the LGU refused since he was still a suspect,” Hataman said.
Hataman said the Government of the Philippines and MILF-CCCH panels were able to persuade the gunmen that the suspect will be arrested and detained once the police complete their investigation on the killing of Tarahin.
He said the police has a CCTV video of the killing of Tarahin showing the plate number of the getaway car, a multicab, and footage showing the identity of the suspect.
Hataman said because of this, the gunmen agreed to stand down and returned to their village.
Meanwhile, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said the situation in Tipo-Tipo town that stemmed from a local clan feud has been brought under control.
Colonel Xerxes Trinidad, chief of the AFP Public Affairs Office, said the tension arose from a dispute between community groups and assured residents that the AFP, the Basilan provincial government, the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GPH), and the MILF-CCCH are doing their best to de-escalate the situation.
Trinidad urged the public to remain calm saying the AFP is committed to ensuring peace throughout Basilan.
The AFP, PNP and the Basilan provincial government also released a statement condoling with the family of Ustadz Tarahin, assuring them that justice will be served. (Froilan Gallardo, with reports from Frencie Carreon/MindaNews)
