May 28, 2002, BusinessWorld, Chronology of hostage crisis,

May 28, 2002, BusinessWorld, Chronology of hostage crisis, 

This is a chronology of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) hostage crisis in Mindanao which entered its second year yesterday. An American couple and a Filipino nurse are the last of several batches of captives seized from May 27 last year. 

May 27, 2001: ASG gunmen raid the Dos Palmas island resort in Palawan, Southern Tagalog Region in southern Luzon, seize 20 hostages including US missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham from Kansas and Peru-born Californian Guillermo Sobero, and flee by boat to their Basilan island (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) stronghold. President Gloria Arroyo rules out ransom and orders the military to rescue the captives. 

June 2: The ASG takes over a Basilan hospital, abducting medical staff. Nine of the original captives escape, but two others are killed as the rebels break out of a military cordon. June 7: ASG spokesman Abu Sabaya threatens to behead the American captives unless Malaysian negotiators are brought in. Arroyo rejects the demand. June 11: 15 more Filipinos are kidnapped in Basilan. 

June 12: Abu Sabaya announces his group has beheaded Sobero and later peddles video footage of the American's supposed execution, but gets no takers. June 29: Arroyo announces she has formally asked the US government to help track down the Abu Sayyaf. July 13: At least 100 suspected sympathizers of ASG kidnappers are arrested in a major crackdown. 

August 3: 35 Filipinos are abducted in Basilan. 10 are beheaded, while the rest escape or are released later, giving the kidnappers more mobility and allowing them to stay a step ahead of 5,000 military pursuers. August 24: Congress probes allegations certain military officials colluded with the ASG to allow their escape from the hospital siege. The probe ends inconclusively. 
September 24: US President George W. Bush seeks a global freeze of Abu Sayyaf assets, putting the group on a blacklist with links to Osama bin Laden, the main suspect in the Sept. 11 US terrorist attacks. October 5: Skeletal remains are found in Basilan. US forensics experts later confirm they are those of US hostage Sobero. 

November 20: At a meeting with Arroyo in Washington, Bush offers to send US troops to help fight the Abu Sayyaf. Arroyo accepts equipment and training assistance. December 7: Senator Panfilo Lacson says he launched a secret but unsuccessful effort in Malaysia to broker the release of the hostages. The military later threatens to arrest unauthorized hostage negotiators. 

January 10: US military advisers arrive in the south for a six-month anti- terrorist campaign. The US force builds up to about 1,000 including 160 Special Forces troops and 340 navy engineers and their Marine bodyguards on Basilan. March 7: Local TV airs video footage of the Burnhams, reading out an ASG statement in front of three hooded gunmen. 

April 25: Martin Burnham's father reveals the ASG reneged on a secret deal in March to free the US couple. The ASG insists the family had dealt with the wrong party, while both the US and RP governments deny ransom had been paid. May 1: Kidnappers call off hostage negotiations and threaten to kill the American captives if rescuers get too close. May 9: Martin Burnham is reported suffering from malaria as the government says reports that Gracia Burnham is also ill are "reliable." -- AFP