Entrepreneur killed, companion wounded in Basilan ambush

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Gunmen killed an entrepreneur and wounded her companion in an ambush in Barangay Lagayas in Tipo-Tipo, Basilan on Friday, January 10.

Brig. Gen. Romeo Juan Macapaz, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters on Saturday, January 11, that that attack left Teodora Aranayi dead and Ariel Repacio wounded.

Aranayi, a dealer of foam mattresses and other commercial goods who goes around the province to sell her merchandise, died from bullet wounds in the head, according to a report from the Basilan Provincial Police Office.

She and Repacio were riding a motorcycle together, on their way home to Cabunbanta in Isabela City from Barangay Tumahubong in Sumisip, when gunmen positioned along a stretch of the Lamitan-Sumisip Highway in Barangay Lagayas shot them with pistols and fled using a getaway motorcycle.

Officials of the Tipo-Tipo Municipal Police Station told reporters that emergency responders immediately transported Repacio, who sustained gunshot wounds in the abdomen, to a government hospital in nearby Lamitan City for treatment.

Macapaz said police investigators are still trying to identify the gunmen behind the atrocity for prosecution.