More Filipino Hostages Released
Muslim extremist guerrillas linked to Osama bin Laden released seven of their last 10 hostages, leaving them with only a Filipino nurse and an American missionary couple, officials said Thursday.
The rebels hope to move faster through mountainous jungle as they dodge an intensifying pursuit, but the military is still closing in, said Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu, military chief in the southern Philippines. Some 7,000 troops have been chasing the rebels on the southern island of Basilan.
"The rescue operations are a little bit easier now," he said.
The military said it expected to soon free the remaining hostages, including a U.S. couple.
 Reuters |
| Martin and Gracia Burnham |
The four men and three women said they were freed Wednesday evening on a deserted highway, then walked toward nearby towns until they met police and soldiers.
The Abu Sayyaf, who are supported by bin Laden terror network al-Qaeda, claim to be Muslim independence fighters. The government dismisses them as bandits. The rebels seized three Americans and 17 Filipinos from an island resort on May 27 and brought them to Basilan, where they carried out more kidnappings.
Some of the hostages have been released, allegedly after paying ransoms. Others escaped and a few have been killed, including Guillermo Sobero of Corono, Calif., who was beheaded. His remains were found in a Basilan jungle in early October.
Another Filipino hostage rescued last month had said Sobero wept and pleaded on his knees with his captors before they executed him in June.
One of the women freed on Thursday, Maria Fe Rosadeno, had been described by local media as Sobero's companion when they were abducted from Dos Palmas.
The freed Filipino hostages said they had been held with the Burnhams. Angie Montealegre, 31, said the Americans gave her a message to relay to their family, but she didn't reveal its contents.
"They want me to tell what we really know of their condition — that they are not OK, they are not fine; they are sick and tired of being there, sick and tired of running," said Montealegre.
"Martin and Gracia...we will find a way to help you," Montealegre, wearing a Muslim head-dress, sobbed. "We will try our best so that you will meet your family again this Christmas."
"I love you, Martin and Gracia. Take care of yourself," the emaciated-lookin Montealegre said.
Another rescued woman, Sheila Tabunyag, 25, described the ordeal as "a nightmare" in a brief interview aboard a helicopter en route to Zamboanga, the largest city in the region.
"We are OK now," she said, clutching her husband's hand and gripping her 5-year-old son tightly with the other arm.
Montealegre also described harrowing conditions during clashes with the pursuing troops.
"We learned how to run, we learned how to crawl, we learned how to jump because the bullets really whizzed past our heads," she said, adding that clashes were followed by what she called "low tide" — three days without food.
Montealegre said Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya had asked her to tell the military that his group wanted a cease-fire after weeks of intense military pursuit.
But Cimatu rejected the guerrillas' appeal.
"No, the operation will continue. There will be no cease-fire," Cimatu said. "I am seeing their end already."
The U.S. military has indicated it may provide equipment and training to help the Philippine army fight the guerrillas.
The southern region of Mindanao is home to the large Muslim minority in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines.
The Abu Sayyaf professes to fight for an Islamic state in the south of the country, but pursues kidnap for ransom as its main activity.
The other four who gained freedom on Thursday were farmers abducted from another Basilan town in June.
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