August 31, 2000, BusinessWorld, Washington asks Manila for help on Jolo Hostage

August 31, 2000, BusinessWorld, Washington asks Manila for help on Jolo Hostage

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- The United States formally requested the Philippines yesterday for help in securing the release of an American abducted by Moro rebels and held on a Mindanao island along with six European hostages.

Washington said it would not give in to rebel demands but Manila said it would negotiate for the release of 24-year-old Jeffrey Schilling, kidnapped two days ago in this city. The rebels had threatened to kill him after Washington said it would not make deals for his release.

"We look to the government of the Philippines to do everything to assure his safe release," US Consul-General John Caulfield told reporters here. Meanwhile, Press Secretary Ricardo V. Puno, Jr. told reporters at the Palace: "Of course, we are going to negotiate for the release of the American. It's the Philippines' responsibility to do so. Let's see what happens beyond that."

At the same time, Executive Secretary Ronaldo B. Zamora said Manila is also conducting "consultations" with Washington to set the policies for resolving the kidnapping. But Manila will have the final decision on whatever action to take, National Security Adviser Alexander P. Aguirre said.

"The government is responsible and will take the necessary action in accordance with our laws and policies. The governments of the nationalities concerned naturally will be coordinating with us but they will not interfere with our internal affairs," he told reporters in Malacañang.

Abu Sayyaf rebels have taken Mr. Schilling, who has lived in the Philippines since March and married a local Muslim woman, to the island of Jolo, where they have hideouts in the hills, officials said. Mr. Schilling, from Oakland, California, is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, who majored in Near Eastern Studies and converted to Islam. His wife has said the couple went to Jolo from their home in Zamboanga City of their own volition and Mr. Schilling was kept back by the rebels there.

A spokesman for the rebels renewed threats to kill Mr. Schilling if three Islamic fundamentalists held in US jails for the bombing of New York's World Trade Center were not released. "Maybe we will behead him," the spokesman said in a call to dxRZ radio. "We are fully prepared to talk," he added. "The door to negotiations is open for the release of this American...but we hope the results will be good and that (President Joseph Estrada) will not try to intimidate us."

The rebel spokesman previously said the group would present detailed demands later this week but that these would include the release of Egyptian cleric Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, Ramzi Ahmed Yousef and Abou Haider, all of whom have been jailed for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

But State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said in Washington: "The United States does not make deals with terrorists, and this organization, the Abu Sayyaf group, is listed in our patterns of global terrorism as one of the radical Islamic separatist groups operating in the southern Philippines." The Abu Sayyaf is an umbrella group of various armed gangs which are mainly involved in kidnap for ransom but profess to be also fighting for an independent Muslim state in Mindanao.

The rebels are also holding six Europeans and a Filipino, most of them kidnapped more than four months ago from a Malaysian diving resort and brought to Jolo. Seventeen mostly foreign hostages, 16 from the Malaysian resort and a French television reporter abducted on Jolo last month, have been released after Libya intervened in the crisis with the tacit support of the countries involved -- France, Germany, Finland, South Africa, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Local officials say ransoms amounting to millions of dollars have been paid. Libya, which hopes the intervention will raise its international profile after years of isolation following the 1988 bombing of a US airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, has however denied it has handed over any money.

There has been no sign that Washington will ask Libya for help, a nation with which it has no formal ties and which it has called a "state of concern" for supporting terrorism. Robert Aventajado, the government's chief negotiator who has worked with the Libyans in winning the release of the other hostages, however said he had no word yet on whether he should negotiate for Mr. Schilling's release.

He also said he did not think Mr. Schilling's kidnapping would affect negotiation on the release of the other hostages, who are being held by another group of Abu Sayyaf rebels and could be released early next month. "I'm banking on the fact that Schilling is in the custody of...Radulan Sahiron," Mr. Aventajado told Reuters, adding that the other hostages were being held by a group led by a guerrilla named Commander Robot.

"They're two different groups. Hopefully my agreement with Robot will not be affected by this incident." In a telephone interview with BusinessWorld, Mr. Aventajado said his mandate as chief government negotiator does not cover Mr. Schilling's abduction. "I still need to get instructions from my President," he added.

Rebel leader Abu Sabaya said earlier he will send emissaries to Mr. Aventajado until Saturday to communicate official demands for the release of the US national. Mr. Aventajado also said Commander Robot may release the remaining European hostages "in the next few days," probably in "one batch."

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Orlando S. Mercado said the US is not pressuring the Philippine government to effect the speedy release of Mr. Schilling. In a telephone interview, Mr. Mercado also said the Philippine and US governments will work within the parameters of their existing cooperative agreements on terrorism.

"There is no pressure... We have existing cooperative agreements on terrorism, specifically in intelligence exchange," Mr. Mercado said when asked about the possibility of a joint rescue operation. He also quoted US embassy deputy chief of missions Michael Malinowsky as saying that Mr. Schilling is a not US government worker, much less an intelligence operative.

Meanwhile, Senate President Franklin M. Drilon called on the government to consider the "military option" in dealing with the Abu Sayyaf. He told a press briefing that the Moro rebels should not be allowed to hold hostage the entire country.

"It is necessary for the government to reclaim its authority and to demonstrate to the Filipino people and to the world that it is capable of defending its citizens and foreign guests," he said. Also yesterday, Sulu police chief Supt. Candido Casimiro claims the rebels may have new weapons but lack the ammunition for them.

He also said the new gunns were not bought from abroad but from politicians and barangay chairmen who no longer hold office. He noted there are about 500,000 loose or unlicensed firearms in Sulu since most residents own firearms. "There are many guns here especially in the mountains, barangays and sitio. These are being sold by those who are in need of money," he said in the vernacular. -- Reuters in Zamboanga City and R. L. Villanueva, C. R. A. Garcia, M. C. Payumo and N. P. Aquino