[Inquirer] Ten-year-old “Tony” has recently gone back to school, in a madrassa where he can continue learning Arabic — and be a child again. Only four years ago, he lugged around an M4 assault rifle and was attacking and evading government troops an Abu Sayyaf militant.The boy was no ordinary fighter and was deemed one of the sharpest among the 30 young combatants under the command of Motong Indama, a younger cousin of Abu Sayyaf leader Furudji Indama.
Tony recalled, "The training took about a year.I was taught how to handle a gun. The [Abu Sayyaf members] were so happy with me that they called me the Tipo-Tipo sniper."
Tipo-Tipo is the town in Basilan that his group had tried to overrun in 2016, setting off battles that dragged on for three months.
When Motong surrendered in July 2016, Tony was one of the 11 among his men who followed. The boy now lives with his uncles under the close supervision of Sumisip town officials.
In an interview, Tony said his mother died after being “shot by a soldier” while she was bathing in a river. His father and three elder siblings were later killed in “another military operation.”
The orphan was only 6 when his brothers took him along to join the Abu Sayyaf, then led by Motong and subleader Radsmil Jannatul.