Chronology of Philippines hostage crisis
MANILA, Oct 26 (AFP) - A
chronology of the Philippines hostage crisis:
April 23: Armed men raid the
Malaysian diving resort of Sipadan, off Borneo, and flee across the sea border with 10
Western tourists and 11 resort workers.
April 25: The Abu Sayyaf,
waging a guerrilla war for a separate Islamic state in the southern Philippines, announces
it is holding the 21 hostages on the island of Jolo.
May 27: Kidnappers issue
political demands including a separate Muslim state, an inquiry into alleged human rights
abuses in Malaysian Sabah and a restoration of fishing rights.
June 9: Abu Sayyaf demand one
million dollars for each hostage. Philippine Foreign Minister Domingo Siazon says Manila
will not stop foreign governments from paying ransoms.
June 24: Malaysian hostage
Zulkarnain Hashim is freed, reportedly after three million dollars is paid in ransom for
all nine Malaysians.
July 1: A Filipino television
evangelist and 12 followers are captured during a visit to the kidnappers' camp to pray.
July 2: German journalist
Andreas Lorenz is kidnapped while covering the crisis.
July 9: French television
reporter Maryse Burgot and her camera crew, Jean-Jacques Le Garrec and Roland Madura, are
abducted.
July 14: Malaysian hostage
Abdul Jawah Sulawat is freed.
July 17: German hostage Renate
Wallert, who suffers from high blood pressure, is freed.
July 21: Malaysian hostages
Vincent Kwong, Lee Hock Leong, Francis Masangkim and Balakrishnan Nair are freed.
July 27: German journalist
Lorenz and one evangelist freed.
Aug 5: Lebanese press reports
say Libya offered to pay 25 million dollars to the Abu Sayyaf in exchange for most of the
hostages.
Aug 7: The military confirm the
Abu Sayyaf has raked in 245 million pesos (5.5 million dollars) in ransoms.
Aug 16: Filipina hostage
Lucrecia Dablo, among the Sipadan 21, is freed.
Aug 18: Malaysian hostages Fong
Yin Ken, Kua Yu Loong and Jim Basilius are released.
Aug 27: French citizens Maryse
Burgot, Sonia Wendling, Marie Moarbes, South African Monique Strydom and Germany's Werner
Wallert are freed.
Aug 28: South African Callie
Strydom joins the five others freed and the six fly home via Libya. American Jeffrey
Schilling is kidnapped in the southern city of Zamboanga and a Filipina schoolgirl is
abducted in Jolo.
Aug 29: The Abu Sayyaf threaten
to kill Schilling if the United States refuses to release three Islamic militants held in
US jails, including convicted World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Youssef.
Sept 9: European tourists Seppo
Fraenti and Risto Vahanen of Finland, Marc Wallert of Germany and Stephane Loisy are
freed.
Sept 10: Abu Sayyaf rebels take
three Malaysian captives in a raid on Pandanan island of Malaysia's Sabah state.
Sept 13: Estrada cuts short
trip to US, chairs crisis talks on the hostage situation with officials saying all options
are open, but backs down from immediate military action.
Sept 15: Visiting US Defence
Secretary William Cohen says Washington supports negotiations not military action, amid
reports of a Philippine military build up on Jolo.
Sept 16: Military assault
launched against Abu Sayyaf positions. French President Jacques Chirac says he holds
Estrada responsible for the safety of the two French journalists.
Sept 20: Two French journalists
Jean-Jacques Le Garrec and Roland Madura are found alive and well after giving the rebels
the slip under cover of darkness.
Estrada vows to pursue the
rebels and turn them to ashes.
Oct 2: The military rescues 12
Filipino Christian preachers among the hostages.
Oct 25: Army troops storm a
remote village an Abu Sayyaf stronghold in Jolo and rescue unharmed Malaysians Mohamed
Noor Sulaiman, 43, Joseph Ongkinoh, 40, and Kan Wei Chong, 35, following a three-hour
firefight.
Back to Sipadan/Pandanan Hostages News
Back
to This Week's Borneo News |
