Search on for Philippine Hostage
By JIM GOMEZ, Associated Press Writer
JOLO, Philippines (AP) -
Philippine troops have begun searching neighboring islands for five hostages and their
Muslim rebel captors who have not been seen for more than a week on Jolo island, officials
said Wednesday.
The military had previously
said it believed the hostages - an American, three Malaysians and a Filipino - were still
on Jolo. It has tried to prevent the escape of the Abu Sayyaf rebels with a naval blockade
and seizure of private boats.
The American, Jeffrey Schilling
from Oakland, Cal., was last sighted more than a week ago with a group of Abu Sayyaf
rebels in eastern Jolo. On Sept. 25 he telephoned the U.S. Embassy and said he had been
taken by the rebels to another unspecified island, officials said.
``They (the troops) are still
trying to locate the whereabouts of these five remaining hostages,'' Press Undersecretary
Mike Toledo said. ``They admitted that they could not exactly determine where they are
right now.''
Meanwhile, for the first time a
senior Philippine official called for outside mediation in stalled peace talks with
another Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Vice President Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo said Wednesday she favors mediation by the 56-nation Organization of Islamic
Conference.
``I would like them to be there
to facilitate'' the peace talks, Arroyo said. ``Details of such facilitation can be
discussed later on.''
The OIC helped broker the 1996
peace accord between the government and a third Muslim rebel group, the Moro National
Liberation Front, which accepted autonomy instead of independence.
Foreign Secretary Domingo
Siazon, head of a Cabinet committee in charge of national security, said he didn't rule
out OIC involvement in talks with the MILF.
``We are in a negotiation
mode,'' he said. ``If you are in negotiating mode, all doors must be open. You don't close
any option.''
No date has been set for a
resumption of the talks.
President Joseph Estrada
suspended talks with the MILF in June after the rebels refused to abandon their
secessionist goal and surrender their weapons.
MILF chairman Salamat Hashim
responded by declaring a jihad, or holy war, against the government, and by disbanding the
rebel negotiating team.
On Monday, troops recovered 12
Filipino Christian evangelists held for three months by the Abu Sayyaf rebels after one
escaped and informed the military of the location of the others.
The rescue was the first major
success of an assault by 5,000 troops on Jolo that began Sept. 16.
Malaysia has deployed hundreds
of soldiers on more than a dozen islands off northeastern Borneo to prevent the Abu Sayyaf
from moving there, officials said Wednesday.
A wave of kidnappings by the
Abu Sayyaf that began in March has badly embarrassed the government and tarnished the
Philippines' reputation among tourists and investors.
Most of the scores of hostages
have been rescued or released after the payment of more than $15 million in ransom by
Libya and Malaysia, negotiators say.
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