February 9, 2002, New York Times, Asian Arena: Botched Siege Under Scrutiny In Philippines, by Jane Perlez,

February 9, 2002, New York Times, Asian Arena: Botched Siege Under Scrutiny In Philippines, by Jane Perlez,

On a moonlit night last June, 30 heavily armed guerrillas forced nearly a score of hostages -- including Martin and Gracia Burnham, an American missionary couple -- into a village hospital here on the island of Basilan.

It was the first time that the entire leadership of Abu Sayyaf, a Filipino gang that professes Islam and has collected large ransoms, had dared to come out of its mountain hideouts and onto the coastal plain. The Philippine Army, which has been chasing the group for more than a decade, finally had its quarry in one accessible place.

But after a 17-hour siege by an underequipped junior company of army scouts, the Abu Sayyaf leaders escaped out the backdoor of the hospital. They returned to their remote jungle lairs with most of their hostages, but not a well-to-do Filipino man and his female companion, who apparently bought their freedom.

The escape raised questions about the ability of the Philippine Army to hunt down Abu Sayyaf and whether some soldiers took a cut of the ransom in exchange for allowing the group to flee with its remaining hostages -- including the Burnhams -- lashed to the gunmen by rope.

It is this army to which 650 American soldiers are now being dispatched to assist in what the Bush administration calls the new phase in the war on terror. Abu Sayyaf once had links to Al Qaeda, although these seem to have gone cold in the late 1990's. The American troops are supposed to rescue the Burnhams, eliminate the last remnants of Abu Sayyaf and improve an army still weakened by allegations of abiding corruption.

''They were allowed to get away,'' said Senator Sergio Osmena 3rd, the grandson of a former Filipino president, in an interview in Manila. ''I have made a big deal out of this because the capability of the military to capture the hostages is limited by corruption.'' He said he was convinced that part of the ransom for the release of the wealthy Filipino businessman, Reghis Romero, and his companion, had been given to officers on Basilan.

Mr. Osmena said he had been asked by a senior Filipino official to lend his Cessna plane to deliver ransom money and was told that it would be divided into three parts: 10 million pesos, or about $200,000, for Abu Sayyaf; 5 million pesos, or $100,000, for the army; and 2 million pesos, or $40,000, for local government officials. A Roman Catholic priest, the Rev. Cirilo Nacorda, whose parish church is next to the memorial hospital and who was present during the shootout, confirmed the senator's account.

Many army officers, and some Filipino and American officials, describe Abu Sayyaf as a thuggish group mostly engaged in kidnap-for-ransom but also capable of apparently gratuitous brutality, like the casual beheading of a dozen plantation workers on Basilan last summer.

The group's founding members received military training in Afghanistan in the war against the Soviet Union, and later in Libya. Their reach of operations is limited to the waterways around the southern Philippines; their most sophisticated equipment, aside from their weapons, is a four-engine speedboat, dubbed the Volvo, and a collection of satellite and cell phones.

Last June's shootout at Jose Torres Memorial Hospital in the Basilan village of Lamitan resulted in a parliamentary investigation that centered on whether Philippine Army officers got a cut of the ransom. It was unclear why the army, with 5,000 to 7,000 soldiers on a 20-mile-by-30-mile island, could not overwhelm a force with a hard-core membership estimated to be fewer than 100.

American officials speak gingerly about the Philippine Army. After President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo seized the opportunity last fall and swiftly joined the Bush administration's war on terror, Washington pledged $100 million in equipment to the military here. America is now deploying soldiers here again, stirring a furor in a country that voted in 1991 to end a century of a nearly unbroken American military presence.

One American official called it mind-boggling that Abu Sayyaf was allowed to get away last June. Another official said only: ''One would have thought that that would be the end of them.''

The saga of last year's shootout began in the dawn hours of May 27 when masked gunmen blazed their way into the Dos Palmos resort on Palawan Island. The raid was planned by the Basilan faction of Abu Sayyaf, which had long been envious of a rival faction that kidnapped European tourists from a nearby Malaysian island in 2000 and eventually received a reported $10 million to $15 million in ransom.

On Palawan last May, the Burnhams, of Wichita, Kan., had been celebrating their 16th wedding anniversary. Buddy Reico, the publisher of the monthly magazine, Travel Update Philippines, was also vacationing at Dos Palmos with his wife, Divine, their 8-year-old son, R. J., and his sister-in-law, Angelica. He recalled how the vacationers and some hotel staff members were shoved onto a speedboat in their night attire.

Each adult was brought to Abu Subaya, the self-styled spokesman of Abu Sayyaf. ''He said there are three ways you can be connected to Islam: as a friend of Islam, to be a Muslim or to be an enemy of Islam,'' Mr. Reico recalled. ''He said when you choose to be a friend of Islam you have to give to Islam.'' Mr. Subaya quickly sized up what each person could contribute.

''I told him I couldn't afford millions. He said: 'You're a journalist. You can do press releases for us.' '' During the negotiations, Mr. Subaya used a satellite phone to reach the Philippines, apparently to arrange a ransom for Mr. Romero, the wealthy businessman, Mr. Reico said.

After a four-day boat ride in the searing sun, the hostages landed on Basilan, where they were forced to trek through jungle so dense that even the ferns had thorns. Badly scratched and bruised, they were eventually loaded onto a jeep and taken at midnight to the hospital.

By 2 a.m., according to accounts by the military, the squad of army scout rangers, young military graduates who had not quite finished their training, drove up and were ambushed. An Abu Sayyaf sniper killed three of the soldiers. A video shot by a television reporter, Howie G. Severeno, shows a group of scared-looking rangers discussing what to do because they had run out of bullets. Meanwhile, Abu Sayyaf was using rocket-propelled grenades.

By about 11 a.m., Mr. Romero, the construction magnate, and his female companion were released, Mr. Reico said. The gunmen agreed to release the publisher's son at the same time. A few hours later, the gunmen herded the hostages together and said they were leaving out the backdoor. The publisher said he was amazed to see no soldiers at the back entrance. Mr. Reico and his wife escaped by falling to the ground when the group was attacked, apparently by local militia, a few yards from the hospital compound.

The Burnhams, now in their eighth month of captivity and reportedly very thin, were less fortunate. The American couple and a Filipino nurse are the last of the group still in captivity. One American, Guillermo Sobero, was beheaded by the guerrillas a week after the siege. Most of the other hostages, including Mr. Reico's sister-in-law, were released after negotiating ransoms. The parliamentary inquiry revealed serious shortcomings in the army's performance.

A nurse from the hospital testified that Maj. Gen. Romeo Dominguez, the commander of a task force on Basilan, came into the room of a nearby district hospital during the shootout and opened an attaché case packed with 1,000-peso bills. She described a case suited for carrying 5 million pesos, Senator Osmena said.

Senior army officers acknowledged at the inquiry that no serious reinforcements were called to back up the underequipped scout rangers. The army chief of staff, Angelo T. Reyes, said: ''We made mistakes,'' but firmly denied any bribery. General Dominguez also denied that he had received money from Abu Sayyaf. No one at the top of the army has been held responsible. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Mindanao called last week for an independent investigation.Some officers were quietly removed from their posts on Basilan, although not demoted. President Arroyo promoted General Dominguez.