RP military vows to 'fix' rebels, free hostages

RP military vows to 'fix' rebels, free hostages

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (Agencies): Philippine troops vowed on
Friday to keep up their offensive against a rebel group which
threatened and then called off the beheading of an American
hostage.

The Abu Sayyaf said on Thursday it had dropped its plan to
kill Jeffrey Schilling, 25, to allow for the possibility of
negotiations with the government.

A spokesman for the rebel group said in a call to a radio
station that the government should also call off its military
offensive.

But military spokesman Col. Juvenal Narcise told reporters the
task was a "two-pronged action which is to rescue (the hostages)
and destroy" the Abu Sayyaf. "The troops will find, fight and fix
the Abu Sayyaf," he said.

Gen. Diomedio Villanueva told reporters in southern Zamboanga
city, the headquarters of the southern military command, that
there was "no reason" to pull out troops from Jolo. "The Abu
Sayyaf should release their captives unconditionally," he said.

Schilling and his captors are believed to be holed up in the
interior of Jolo, a remote and rugged island some 150 km south of
Zamboanga.

The Abu Sayyaf had threatened to behead Schilling by 5 p.m. (4
p.m. Jakarta time) on Thursday and send President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo his head as a birthday present if they were not
allowed to hold talks with Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Manila.

The Abu Sayyaf professes to be fighting for a separate Muslim
state in the south of the predominantly Catholic Philippines, but
its main occupation appears to be kidnap for ransom.

Schilling, from Oakland, California, was abducted in August
when he went to a rebel camp on Jolo along with his Muslim wife,
who is related to one of the Abu Sayyaf leaders.

The rebels also hold a Filipino, Roland Ullah, who was
kidnapped almost a year ago from a diving resort in nearby
Malaysia.

Another 20 people abducted at that time, including several
Western tourists, have been released, mostly in exchange for huge
ransoms.

Meanwhile, Communist rebels released their last remaining
hostage on Friday, making way for new peace talks with the
government aimed at ending 30 years of insurgency.

The New People's Army, fighting a Marxist revolution
nationwide, turned over army Maj. Noel Buan to a citizen's group
and representatives of the International Committee of the Red
Cross in Mindoro Oriental province.

Buan limped slightly as he followed guerrillas down a
mountainside into a waiting throng of onlookers near the coastal
mountain town of Mansalay, some 240 kilometers south of Manila.

Hair grown well past his shoulders from 21 months in
captivity, the smiling officer embraced his sobbing wife and 12-
year-old daughter. Nearby rebels sang revolutionary songs and
clapped in rhythm as Justice Secretary Hernando Perez stood by to
greet Buan.

"I probably shouldn't talk anymore because you know the
emotions," he told reporters in a brief statement.

"This is long overdue," Buan's wife, Cielo, said shortly
before the reunion. "I've always kept the house clean and stored
simple foods and drinks in the house for him."

Buan's release is meant to improve the atmosphere for the
peace talks between the NPA and the government, scheduled to
start April 27 in an unidentified Scandinavian country.

"This is a very, very positive step," National Security
Adviser Roilo Golez said as the teams prepared for Buan's
handover. "We are on the eve of the start of the peace talks.

This will add to the confidence building measures so the two
panels can talk well with each other."

To facilitate the release, the government declared a limited
cease-fire and confined special military forces to their barracks
in the area. The rebels also declared a cease-fire in Mindoro
Oriental and nearby provinces.

Another NPA hostage, police Chief Inspector Abelardo Martin,
was hit by a stray bullet in an apparently chance encounter
between rebels and government troops last month. He bled to death
in the jungle as bad weather prevented his evacuation by
helicopter.

The rebels had earlier announced plans to release Buan with
Martin, who had been hostage since November 1999.

After preliminary talks early last month, the Marxist umbrella
group, the National Democratic Front, and the government peace
panel announced they will resume talks in a "mutually acceptable
foreign neutral venue."
Rebel negotiators wanted the venue close to the Netherlands,
where they live in exile.

The rebels pulled out of peace talks under former President
Joseph Estrada nearly two years ago after the Senate approved an
agreement allowing the resumption of large-scale U.S. military
exercises in the Philippines.

Military intelligence officials say the NPA has some 11,000
members that operate in small groups nationwide.