Sick American captive taken off Philippine
hostage island
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines, Nov 14
(AFP) - An American hostage told a radio station Tuesday that he has been taken off the
Philippine island of Jolo by his Muslim captors amid a military operation to destroy the
gunmen.
Jeffrey Schilling told radio
station DXRZ he believed he was in the neighbouring island of Basilan or Tawi-Tawi, adding
he was suffering from various ailments and coughing blood.
He appealed to the government
to resume negotiations with the Abu Sayyaf guerillas.
"The military haven't
found us, we have been travelling by boat mostly by night and we are now maybe in the
(nearby islands of) Basilan or Tawi-Tawi," he said.
"I am suffering from
ulcers, fatigue, (and it is) depressing. I am not very well. I have infection on a leg and
it is swollen," said the 24-year-old resident from Oakland, California.
Schilling and a Filipino dive
instructor are the last hostages held by the Abu Sayyaf.
Schilling was abducted after
voluntarily walking into a Abu Sayyaf rebel camp in August, while the other hostage
Filipino Roland Ullah was abducted from the Malaysian resort of Sipadan in April along
with 20 others who have since been released.
Ullah is being held by another
Abu Sayyaf group and there has been no news of him for weeks now.
The Sipadan hostages from seven
countries were freed in batches after payments of huge ransoms, but the rebels took more
hostages including two French journalists, three Malaysians and a group of Filipino
preachers.
Most of them were recovered
safely after President Joseph Estrada deployed some 5,000 soldiers and police to southern
Jolo in a major crackdown against the Abu Sayyaf in September.
Schilling said an Abu Sayyaf
faction led by Abu Sabaya had kept him in chains as they trudged through Jolo's jungles to
evade pursuing troops. He said they later hopped from one island to another.
"I am vomiting and it's
difficult to eat. I am coughing blood and there is nothing to eat except for rice and
salt."
Schilling said he knew the
Philippines was in the grip of a political crisis arising from corruption allegations
against Estrada but added he and Ullah should not be forgotten.
"I don't know how long I
can hold on for the negotiation process," he said.
His captor, Sabaya, warned in
the radio interview of a "bigger problem" if the government did not launch
negotiations with the Abu Sayyaf soon.
Sabaya also appealed to whoever
emerges as the new US president to "send their negotiators."
The Abu Sayyaf had earlier
threatened to behead Schilling after Washington rejected a demand to swap him for Muslim
militants jailed in the United States.
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