The Patikul massacre refers to an event that took place on October 10, 1977 in

Patikul, Sulu Patikul, officially the Municipality of Patikul ( Tausūg: ''Kawman sin Patikul''; ), is a municipality in the province of Sulu, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 79,564 people. The provincial capitol and offices a ...

province in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. Thirty-five officers and men of the

Philippine Army The Philippine Army (PA) () is the main, oldest and largest branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), responsible for ground warfare. , it had an estimated strength of 143,100 soldiers The service branch was established on December ...

were killed by elements of the

Moro National Liberation Front The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF; ) is a political organization in the Philippines that was founded in 1972. It started as a splinter group of the Muslim Independence Movement. The MNLF was the organization most active in the Moro conf ...

under Usman Sali. Among the dead were Brigadier General Teodulfo Bautista, commanding general of the 1st Infantry Division, Adjutant General of the

Armed Forces of the Philippines The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) () are the military forces of the Philippines. It consists of three main service branches; the Philippine Army, Army, the Philippine Air Force, Air Force, and the Philippine Navy, Navy (including the P ...

, Col. Gabriel Pangilinan and four lieutenant colonels.

The massacre

Usman Sali, the leader of a group of MNLF rebels, had earlier agreed to meet with Gen. Bautista at the headquarters of the 1st Infantry "Tabak" Division in

Jolo Jolo () is a volcanic island in the southwest Philippines and the primary island of the province of Sulu, on which the capital of the same name is situated. It is located in the Sulu Archipelago, between Borneo and Mindanao, and has a populatio ...

for a peace dialogue. At the last minute, Sali changed his mind and proposed to meet Gen. Bautista at a

public market A marketplace, market place, or just market, is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a '' souk'' (from ...

in Barangay Danag, Patikul. Bautista agreed and on the way to Patikul, was accompanied by Col. Gabriel Pangilinan, his classmate at the

Philippine Military Academy The Philippine Military Academy ( / ) also referred to by its acronym PMA is the premier military academy for Filipinos aspiring for a commission as a military officer of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). It was established on Decembe ...

. Earlier, Bautista had invited

Fidel V. Ramos Fidel Valdez Ramos (; March 18, 1928 – July 31, 2022), popularly known as FVR, was a Filipino general and politician who served as the 12th president of the Philippines from 1992 to 1998. He was the only career military officer to reached ...

, then Chief of the

Philippine Constabulary The Philippine Constabulary (PC; , ''HPP''; ) was a gendarmerie-type military police force of the Philippines from 1901 to 1991, and the predecessor to the Philippine National Police. It was created by the Insular Government, American occupat ...

to join him but the latter demurred due to a previous engagement in

Zamboanga City Zamboanga City, officially the City of Zamboanga (; ; Subanen languages, Subanen: ''Bagbenwa Sembwangan''; Sama–Bajaw languages, Sama: ''Lungsud Samboangan''; ; ; ) is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city i ...

. When the General and his troops arrived at the market aboard two army trucks, the place was deserted. Sali was not there to meet Bautista, so the General and his men sat down at a table to await his arrival. At that point gunfire broke out and Bautista and his men were mowed down. The bodies were later found to have sustained hack wounds. All of the Army soldiers died, except for a sergeant, the group's

radioman Radioman (RM) was a rating for United States Navy and United States Coast Guard enlisted personnel, specializing in communications technology. History of the rating The rating was created originally in 1921. In 1997, under the direction of Ch ...

, who survived by playing dead. Although some reports indicate that Usman Sali died during subsequent government operations, others state that he escaped to

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

after the incident.

Memorials

Then-president

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...

, in his eulogy to the fallen, stated that Gen. Bautista and his men were "killed with perfidy and treachery", and that the massacre "conclusively brands the MNLF as the violator of the ceasefire agreement". In 2012, Bautista's son, then- Commanding General of the Philippine Army Emmanuel T. Bautista inaugurated a museum in Camp General Teodulfo Bautista in Barangay Busbus, Jolo. The Army camp is named in honor of his late father. A stone memorial to those killed was restored in 2009 by the Philippine Marine Corps, Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines, and residents of Barangay Danag.

References

{{Moro conflict Massacres under the Marcos dictatorship Moro conflict Rebellions in the Philippines Crime in Mindanao History of Sulu Massacres in 1977 1977 murders in the Philippines 20th century in Mindanao Marketplace attacks in the Philippines War crimes in the Philippines Perfidy incidents October 1977 in Asia