He fought heroically when my unit figured in a 6-hour firefight against more or less 200 Abu Sayyaf bandits in Balatanay, Basilan on October 7, 2001. I can vividly remember Kitong as the one whom I ordered to crawl an Abu Sayyaf position to grab an M60 Machinegun.
Ika nga history repeats itself nang nagmumuni-muni ako sa Jolo, Sulu noong June 1, 2001 at nandon na uli ako sa Basilan kinaumagahan dahil sa tawag ng tungkulin, pagkatapos na nagpasaway si Abu Sabaya doon sa Lamitan.