[6] The first Ilocanos used Ipil as the nearest jump point in connecting Titay with Zamboanga City.

They would walk via Lumbia then to Longilog then Gabo reaching Mayabang their original settlement.

On the morning of April 4, 1995, Ipil was attacked by approximately 200 heavily armed Abu Sayyaf militants who fired upon residents, strafed civilian homes, plundered banks, took up to 30 hostages and then burned the centre of the town to the ground.

[7][8] The militants allegedly arrived in the town by boat and bus, and a number of them had been dressed in military clothing.

The town's Chief of Police was reportedly killed in the attack and close to a billion pesos were looted from eight commercial banks.