| US hostage sent camera to prove he is held in camp Amid stories
that Schilling is proving to be a handful for his captors, he is being sent the camera and
a tape recorder by Philippine negotiator
JOLO -- A government-appointed
negotiator for the release of a US citizen kidnapped by Filipino Muslim extremists, said
yesterday he had sent a camera, tape recorder and paper to the camp where the American is
being held to get proof the hostage is really held there.
Provincial Vice-Governor Mr
Munib Estino, who was appointed to negotiate the release of Mr Jeffrey Schilling, said he
sent the camera and other items through his official emissaries who went to the Abu Sayyaf
rebels' hideout.
The camera and tape recorder
will be used to prove the Abu Sayyaf are holding Mr Schilling while the hostage can use
the paper to write messages, he said.
Any pictures, recordings and
messages will be sent directly to a group of Philippine Cabinet members and it will be up
to them to decide whether to release the information to the public.
The Vice-Governor said
preliminary reports indicated the hostage was fine but heavily guarded, adding the
American was using martial arts to resist his captors.
Mr Schilling is said to be a
handful for them, many of whom are only half his size.
He is a burly 1.88-m tall and
weighs 127 kg, and is a full head and shoulders taller than them.
Abu Sabaya, the leader of the
Abu Sayyaf faction holding him, has given orders that he not be harmed despite his
occasional violent outbursts, the Vice-Governor said.
The American was also
requesting food such as instant noodles.
The Vice-Governor said the Abu
Sayyaf had accepted him as negotiator and that he was waiting for word from Abu Sabaya on
the venue and time for future talks. Earlier reports said the Abu Sayyaf had rejected Mr
Estino as negotiator in this matter.
Previously, government
intelligence sources said Mr Schilling was being kept in the space under an elevated
house, penned in a wooden cage, in handcuffs.
However, Mr Estino made no
mention of this.
The American was detained after
he entered the Abu Sayyaf camp in the central island of Jolo on Aug 28.
Aside from him, another Abu
Sayyaf faction is holding six Europeans and 16 Filipinos but another group of negotiators
is working for their release.
Meanwhile, it was reported that
the six European hostages should be freed today in return for Libyan development aid.
--AFP
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