Basilan tightens port security after killing of Lebanese, Filipino wife

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April 13, 2026 | 7:30am

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Local executives and the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region are guarding seaports in Basilan to prevent the possible escape to the province of the two men who killed a Lebanese national and his Filipino wife in Zamboanga City on Friday, April 10.

The slain couple, Lebanese national Fahed Hamdan and his wife, Anora, owned a printing press and an internet shop near the corner of Cervantes and Pilar streets in Zamboanga City in Region 9, not far from Basilan, one of the five provinces in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Brig. Gen. Edwin Quilates, director of Police Regional Office 9, said on Sunday that their continuing hunt for the two suspects is being supported by Lt. Gen. Donald Gumiran, commander of the military's Western Mindanao Command, which is also based in Zamboanga City.

The Hamdans were shot one after the other with a pistol by one of their two assailants inside their establishment.

Anora died at the scene from gunshot wounds sustained in the attack.

Fahed died in a hospital, where emergency responders had brought him for treatment.

Seaports under watch

Radio reports in Cotabato City on Sunday said Basilan Gov. Mujiv Hataman, Lamitan Mayor Roderick Furigay and officials of the Basilan Provincial Police Office were coordinating to secure seaports in the province against the possible entry from Zamboanga City of the two suspects.

Zamboanga City Mayor Khymer Adan Olaso circulated screen-grabbed photos of the two suspects taken from footage captured by security cameras inside the victims' establishment and in nearby stores.

Olaso also offered a P500,000 reward for information that could help police locate the suspects.

Local officials step up security

Fahed was seen in security camera footage trying to disarm the gunman who shot him and his wife, but he eventually fell after being weakened by gunshot wounds to the upper torso.

Hataman and Furigay have deployed personnel from the civil security units under their respective offices to seaports in Isabela City and Lamitan to help plainclothes intelligence operatives from PRO-BAR units in Basilan guard against any possible entry by the suspects from Zamboanga City.

"This is just a security measure. It is unlikely for the suspects to come and hide in Basilan but we are not taking chances. We are guarding against that. The local government unit of Lamitan and our provincial government, under our present governor, and the city government of Zamboanga are partners in peace and development initiatives," Furigay said.