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John Unson - Philstar.com
April 13, 2026 | 5:42pm
Jamil Cotamora Binasing (left, wearing a helmet) personally admitted to Zamboanga City Mayor Khymer Adan Olaso (right) that he killed a Lebanese businessman and his Filipina wife in an attack in Zamboanga City on April 10, 2026.
Photo courtesy of Philstar.com / John Unson
COTABATO CITY — Policemen and Army intelligence operatives cornered before dawn on Monday, April 13, in Lantawan town in Basilan province in the Bangsamoro region, the main suspect in the brutal killing of a Lebanese businessman and his wife in Zamboanga City three days earlier.
The 21-year-old suspect, Jamil Cotamora Binasing, is now in the custody of the Basilan Provincial Police Office and will be turned over to the Zamboanga City Police Office, which is under Police Regional Office 9.
Binasing allegedly shot Lebanese national Fahed Hamdan and his Filipino spouse, Annora, multiple times with a pistol inside their printing press and internet shop along Pilar Street in Zamboanga City on Friday morning, April 10.
He confessed to local officials, including Zamboanga City Mayor Khymer Adan Olaso, in the presence of police officers.
Brig. Gen. Jaysen De Guzman, director of the Police Regional Office–Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters on Monday morning that Binasing, who had even dyed his hair to avoid detection, surrendered when policemen, backed by soldiers from a unit of the Army’s 101st Infantry Brigade and local officials, arrived at his grandmother’s house in Barangay Subaan in Lantawan to arrest him.
He was captured on security camera footage as the one who shot the Hamdans one after another with a pistol inside their establishment last Friday. His companion, who remains at large, allegedly took the couple’s cash collections for the day before fleeing the scene.
Security camera footage obtained by Olaso’s office from nearby stores showed Hamdan attempting to disarm Binasing on the sidewalk along Pilar Street, but he eventually fell after being weakened by gunshot wounds to his upper torso.
Hamdan’s wife died instantly from gunshot wounds sustained in the attack, while he later died in a hospital after being brought there by emergency responders.
“We are very grateful to the members of the Basilan Provincial Peace and Order Council and the local officials in Lantawan for reporting to our units in the province the presence of the suspect in the municipality,” De Guzman said.
PRO-BAR’s spokesperson, Capt. Steffie Salanguit, who is based in Camp SK Pendatun in nearby Parang, Maguindanao del Norte, said villagers in Lantawan, one of the 11 towns in Basilan, reported Binasing’s presence in Barangay Subaan to their municipal and provincial officials, enabling police to quickly locate and apprehend him in the area.
Olaso on Saturday, April 11, offered a P500,000 cash reward for any information that would lead to the arrest of the two perpetrators of the attack that left the Hamdan couple dead.
Olaso, presiding chairperson of the Zamboanga City Peace and Order Council, was quoted in Monday radio reports in Central Mindanao as saying that he would ensure Binasing is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Police officials in Basilan and intelligence operatives from units of the 101st Infantry Brigade in the province are validating tips from confidential informants that Binasing’s companion fled to one of the islands near the border of Zamboanga City and Basilan’s territorial waters.
