U.S. Hostage Reported Alive
The family of an American hostage appealed Wednesday to Filipinos to help find him amid reports that he was seen alive after a Muslim extremist group claimed it killed him.
Guillermo Sobero of Corona, California, was abducted by Abu Sayyaf guerrillas along with an American couple and 17 Filipinos from a resort on May 27. A rebel spokesman, Abu Sabaya, claimed two weeks later that the 40-year-old Peru native had been beheaded. No body has been found.
Eid Kabalu, a spokesman for a larger Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, claimed last week that one of its guerrilla commanders in southern Basilan island, where Sobero and the other hostages were taken, reported that he was seen recently.
Sobero's family said they strongly believe he's still alive.
In a statement and video released by the U.S. Embassy, the Soberos tearfully appealed to Filipinos to help find him, recalling his profound love for the Philippines.
"The friendliest people in the world live there, and the islands with their pristine waters are paradise on earth," Sobero's brother Pablo quoted him as once saying.
"I ask all of you to prove to us that Guillermo was right about the Philippines," Pablo said on behalf of his family.
In the video, Sobero's daughter Aimee, parents, brothers and a sister glumly appealed for help. Aimee held a portrait that showed her and her father during happier days.
"Please Abu Sabaya, please give back my daddy because I miss him a lot. He's everything for me," the girl said, tears running down her cheeks. "Please don't harm him because me and my brother are waiting for him and we need him back."
Sabaya has repeatedly said his men beheaded Sobero on June 12, the Philippines' Independence Day, for what he claimed was government duplicity. The military has also said it believes Sobero is dead.
In addition to the first batch of hostages, the Abu Sayyaf also seized other captives last month in raids on a coconut plantation and a hospital on Basilan, 560 miles south of Manila.
Some hostages were freed or escaped, and four have been found hacked to death. The rebels are still thought to hold about 20 people, including American missionaries Gracia and Martin Burnham of Wichita, Kan.
Some of the freed hostages said they last saw Sobero, his hands tied behind his back, being led away by the guerrillas on the night of June 11.
After thousands of government troops failed to find the guerrillas and their remaining captives in Basilan in recent weeks, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo intensified the assault by ordering a crackdown on civilian supporters of the Abu Sayyaf last Friday.
More than 60 sympathizers and members have been arrested in the crackdown. Most have been charged with kidnapping and illegal possession of firearms and prohibited drugs, officials said.
Lt. Col. Danilo Servando said the crackdown has dealt a serious blow to the Abu Sayyaf, depriving the guerrillas of important logistical suppor from villagers.
"We are draining the pond of their supply," Servando said.
The Abu Sayyaf claims to be fighting for an independent Muslim state in the southern Philippines.
According to the State Department, the Abu Sayyaf is "the smallest and most radical of the Islamic separatist groups operating in the southern Philippines," having split from the more powerful Moro National Liberation Front in 1991.
Last year, the group received millions of dollars in ransom payments for other hostages.
Abu Sayyaf is believed to have about 200 core members, but several hundred others might have joined the group after the ransom payments last year.
The Philippines government has refused to pay ransom to the rebels this time around.
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