December 31, 2001, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Gloria junks American option on Burnhams but will listen to Tiahrt, by Vincent Cabreza and Desiree Caluza,

December 31, 2001, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Gloria junks American option on Burnhams but will listen to Tiahrt, by Vincent Cabreza and Desiree Caluza,

BAGUIO CITY-Allowing United States troops to join the rescue operation for an American missionary couple held by Abu Sayyaf bandits may not be the best option for the government at this time, President Macapagal-Arroyo said yesterday.

She admitted though that resolving the crisis quickly would help her economic agenda after various international bodies praised her macroeconomic policies but expressed concern over the country's peace and order situation.

The parents of Martin and Gracia Burnham had asked Malacanang to allow US troops to be involved in their rescue after noting the lengthy seven-month duration of the military's own rescue efforts in the jungles of Basilan.

The Burnham couple was snatched from the Dos Palmas beach resort in Palawan in May, along with murdered Californian Guillermo Sobero and 15 other Filipino tourists. All but the couple and nurse Deborah Yap have been recovered.

US Congressman Todd Tiahrt, who hails from the Burnhams' native Kansas, is scheduled to arrive shortly to personally plead with the President on behalf of Martin's parents, Paul and Oreta Burnham.

Ms Macapagal told reporters she has scheduled a New Year's Day meeting with Tiahrt although it was not clear whether she would meet with him at the Presidential Mansion here or in Manila.

She did not divulge what they would be discussing but Tiahrt said earlier he would try to urge the President to allow US troops to join in the rescue effort.

Ms Macapagal said she would listen to Tiahrt's impressions of the Basilan military operations in order to have "better basis for our conversation."

"He'll be going to Basilan before (the New Year's Day meeting), so let's just see what he's going to say about that," she said.

During her program's second telecast on Saturday, Ms Macapagal had described the progress of the rescue mission in Basilan. She said "a mere three kilometers" of lush forestland divided government troops from the Abu Sayyaf bandit group led by Abu Sabaya, the group's spokesperson.

She told host Solita Monsod that people who watched Marilou Diaz-Abaya's film on the Mindanao crisis, "Bagong Buwan," would understand the difficulties of a mere three-kilometer barrier.

"I saw 'Bagong Buwan'... In just 10 feet of forest in Basilan, you won't be able to see the other side. That's how thick the Basilan forests are. That is why it would be hard to predict when we can rescue the (Burnhams and Yap). It is that difficult," she said in Filipino.

Meanwhile, a congressman assigned to escort Tiahrt to Basilan said he was opposed to US combat troop participation in the rescue operations for the Burnhams. Basilan Rep. Gerry Salappudin warned that the situation in Basilan would only worsen as it might unleash the "tentacles of the al-Qaida terrorist network and other extremist Islamic groups which might come to the aid of the Abu Sayyaf."

Salappudin, who is in Athens, Greece and is to return on Jan. 2, said in a telephone interview that he was not aware that Speaker Jose de Venecia had assigned him to escort Tiahrt to his home province. With a report from Christine Avendano