Philippine Rebels Holding Hostages
By JIM GOMEZ, Associated Press Writer
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AP) -
Muslim rebels fleeing the second day of a government offensive Sunday appear to have taken
their 19 hostages, including one American, with them, the military said.
Thousands of government troops
pursued the Abu Sayyaf rebels in an assault aimed at rescuing the hostages, including six
foreigners, held by the rebels on remote Jolo island. More than 4,000 soldiers had
launched the pre-dawn attack Saturday.
Military Chief of Staff Gen.
Angelo Reyes said the guerrillas apparently took the hostages with them. There has been no
sign of them, but all are believed to be alive.
``There have been no reports
from the field indicating that any of them are casualties,'' Reyes said.
President Joseph Estrada flew
to nearby Zamboanga city on Sunday.
``We are banking on you,'' he
told Gen. Narciso Abaya. The general replied that the assault could take three days to a
week.
Estrada said his top priority
was rescuing the hostages, but also ordered the military to ``destroy the Abu Sayyaf so
they can no longer engage in kidnapping activities.''
The military took over two
rebel camps, including the one where two French television journalists had been held, but
found no hostages.
Mortars pounded rebel positions
in the hills of Jolo as attack planes and helicopter gunships fired missiles and bullets
from above.
One woman died and four other
civilians were treated at a Jolo hospital. They said they were in a group of about 10
people strafed by military gunfire. Other injured civilians were unable to pass through
tight military blockades to reach the hospital, they said.
Reyes said six rebels had been
killed and 20 captured since Saturday. Four government soldiers were wounded, he said.
Rebel leader Ghalib ``Robot''
Andang called a government emissary after the attack began Saturday and asked for a
cease-fire, but did not offer to release the hostages, chief government negotiator Robert
Aventajado said.
Aventajado said the chances of
the request being accepted by the government were ``almost nil.''
The Abu Sayyaf is seeking an
independent Islamic state in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines. They have taken
hostages for ransom, reportedly receiving $15 million from Libya and Malaysia for captives
freed earlier.
In addition to the French
journalists, various Abu Sayyaf factions are holding an American, a Filipino who was
kidnapped with a larger group in April, 12 Filipino Christian evangelists who came to pray
at the camp and three Malaysians abducted Sept. 10.
Malaysian defense minister
Najib Tun Razak said Sunday the three resort workers kidnapped last week from Pandanan
Semporna Island were safe. Malaysian military officials on Jolo assured him of this, the
national Bernama news agency said.
The military said it did not
believe an unconfirmed report that the American hostage, Muslim convert Jeffrey Schilling
of Oakland, Calif., was killed during an escape attempt Friday.
``There is a strong possibility
he is still alive,'' Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado said.
Schilling was taken hostage
Aug. 28 after he went to visit the Abu Sayyaf camp and reportedly argued with the rebels.
His mother, Carol Schilling, remained hopeful and awaited word in her Oakland apartment.
``I firmly believe that he is
still alive, and I just know in my heart that he will return home to me,'' she said.
The rebels had earlier
threatened to attack southern Philippine cities and behead Schilling if troops launched an
attack.
The military also was
investigating unconfirmed reports that the evangelists had been executed by a rebel firing
squad after the attack began, and the French journalists had escaped.
``All of these have not been
confirmed, and no bodies (of hostages) have been found,'' presidential Press Secretary
Ricardo Puno said.
Reyes said the journalists are
believed still to be with the rebels.
Before their kidnapping spree
began in March, there were fewer than 200 armed men in the Abu Sayyaf. They now number
more than 3,000 as massive ransom payments have attracted recruits, the military says.
Estrada said Saturday he had
decided to abandon negotiations after the rebels seized the Malaysians, despite their
earlier pledge not to abduct more captives while talks were under way.
Telephone and transportation
links to Jolo were cut, isolating panicked villagers who streamed into the island's
capital and snapped up goods in crowded grocery stores.
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