Ujud Ujurun J. Gappal was standing by the roadside in Riverside, Barangay Matibay when he was shot and killed by a still unidentified suspect at 4:55 p.m. Gappal was taken to the Lamitan District Hospital where he succumbed to bullet wounds.
Gappal, a candidate for mayor in Akbar, Basilan, lost to incumbent Mayor Sali Ali. He was also a former barangay captain of Barangay Semut, Akbar.
At around 10 p.m., Gappal’s son-in-law, Wilbert Insang Lao, 27, was walking towards his parked motorcycle near the Muslim cemetery of Sitio Kayo Poteh, Barangay Maganda after burying his father-in-law when he was shot dead by an unknown assailant.
Police Brig. Gen. Arthur Cabalona, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) police chief, ordered the Basilan Provincial Police Office to identify the perpetrators of both killings.
Police are investigating a link in the murder incidents and conducting hot pursuit operations against the suspects.
Basilan was declared as a hotspot or hotly contested area due to election-related violence prior to the 2022 polls.