June 11, 2001, The Philippine Star, Abus defer execution of American hostages, by Roel Pareño,

June 11, 2001, The Philippine Star, Abus defer execution of American hostages, by Roel Pareño, cache,

 

Abu Sayyaf kidnappers deferred until today their planned execution of three American hostages unless the Arroyo administration appoints two Malaysians as official mediators.

 

The ultimatum was supposed to have expired yesterday, although there were no reports of any execution of hostages.

 

On Thursday, the Abu Sayyaf gave the government 72 hours to comply with their demand to bring in the two Malaysians, otherwise they would behead the three Americans they abducted from a posh resort in Palawan on May 27, along with 14 Filipino guests and three resort workers.

 

National Security Adviser Roilo Golez quoted Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Sabaya as telling a government negotiator that he would carry out the threat today if their demand was not met.

 

Golez warned that the lives and safety of the American and Filipino hostages were in the hands of their captors.

 

"That's their responsibility if something will happen to their hostages," Golez said.

 

He added that the troops will press their offensive against the Abu Sayyaf terrorists in a bid to rescue the hostages who were reportedly moved to another jungle hideout in the mountains of Basilan island.

 

The Americans are Christian missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham of Wichita, Kansas, and Guillermo Sobero, a Californian with roots in Peru.

 

The government, however, has not taken any positive move to comply with the kidnappers' demand to call in the two Malaysians — former Sen. Sarno Sairin and businessman Yusuf Hamdan.

 

Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said the involvement of a foreign mediator might only cause misunderstanding.

 

"Our intermediary, William Castillo, is continuing to negotiate, but we still do not have the latest report (on the fate of the American hostages)," Tiglao told reporters at Malacañang.

 

Sabaya warned that they were not bluffing about their threat to behead the Americans. The bandits have already beheaded two of their hostages from the upscale resort.

 

Meanwhile, thousands of troops scoured Basilan yesterday in search of the Abu Sayyaf rebels and the hostages.

 

"We have troops from the east and troops from the west in a pincer movement to make sure we find them (Abu Sayyaf) as soon as possible and crush them," Golez said. "We are not prepared to grant any concessions."

 

President Arroyo reiterated her no-ransom policy. "If we gave ransom, what would happen? All this will happen again, and the Abu Sayyaf will even be able to modernize," she said.

 

The military said the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, who style themselves as freedom fighters struggling for an independent Islamic state in Mindanao but engage in mass abductions for ransom, used funds they earned from last year's kidnapping spree to buy more sophisticated weapons and speed boats.

 

Abu Sayyaf gunmen swooped down on the Malaysian island resort of Sipadan on Eastern Sunday last year and seized 10 Europeans, nine Malaysians and two Filipinos who were taken by boat across the sea border to nearly Jolo, Sulu.

 

The hostage drama dragged on for months, with all but one of the 21 hostages released in batches upon payment of undetermined amounts of ransom.

 

Still unaccounted for is Filipino Muslim Roland Ullah, a dive master at Sipadan.

 

Sairin and Hamdan negotiated for the freedom of the nine Malaysians.

 

The Abu Sayyaf also captured a number of local and foreign journalists who ventured to Jolo to cover the hostage drama.

 

The guerrillas likewise seized on July 1 Filipino televangelist Wilde Almeda and 12 of his followers who bribed their way to the rebel's jungle lair to offer prayers for the safe release of the Sipadan hostages. The preachers were subsequently rescued by pursuing government forces.

 

Last April 12, Army soldiers battling Abu Sayyaf terrorists rescued American Jeffrey Schilling, 25, a native of Oakland, California who was seized eight months ago in Jolo while visiting with relatives of his Filipina wife, Ivy Osani, a cousin of Sabaya.

 

The kidnappers had also threatened to chop off Schilling's head if their demands, including the pullout of the troops, were not met.

 

On May 27, more than 20 heavily armed Abu Sayyaf bandits descended on Dos Palmas island off Puerto Princesa City in Palawan, rounded up and took them on a long boat ride to Basilan across a 400-nautical mile expanse of sea, breaking through a naval cordon of an island where they briefly stopped apparently to refuel.

 

Nine of the Filipino hostages have either been rescued or broke free from the clutches of their captors, two others were executed, while nine, among them the three Americans, remained in captivity.

 

The kidnappers also seized two nurses, a midwife and a school principal when they stormed a hospital and a school in Lamitan town last week.

 

The military has reportedly suffered 27 killed and more than 50 others wounded since fighting with the Abu Sayyaf erupted on June 1.

 

Robot now in Basilan?

 

Meanwhile, military field commanders in Basilan reported that Abu Sayyaf leaders Ghalib Andang alias Commander Robot and Mujib Susukan landed in Basilan to reinforce the group of Sabaya.

 

Camp Aguinaldo doubted, however, the veracity of the report saying it was unlikely since Sabaya and Janjalani were planning to flee Basilan to elude attacking soldiers.

 

Another intelligence source said Andang and Susukan were mad at Sabaya's group for having reneged on a promise to turn over half of the Dos Palmas hostages to Robot's group.

 

In another development, two suspected Abu Sayyaf members were killed and four others were wounded and captured by troops after trying to enter the capital town of Isabela in Basilan.

 

Army Col. Hermogenes Esperon, commanding officer of the military contingent in the island-province, said nine suspected Abu Sayyaf guerrillas attempted to pass through an Army outpost late Saturday on the outskirts of the town.

 

The men allegedly resisted arrest and tried to grab the soldiers' rifles. Two of them were cut down in the ensuing firefight, while four of their companions were wounded and left behind. The rest managed to escape.

 

Esperon said the wounded suspects were taken to a hospital where they were under heavy guard and being interrogated.