RP sends in troops to catch guerrillas holding hostages
RP sends in troops to catch guerrillas holding hostages
ISABELA, Philippines (Agencies): The Philippine military unleashed crack troops to hunt down guerrillas holding three Americans and several Filipinos hostage, as officials denied on Friday reports the rebels had begun freeing hostages for cash.
Soldiers and marines continued to pour into southern Basilan island, where three days ago the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas said they had beheaded American hostage Guillermo Sobero.
But there was no evidence Sobero had been killed, and nothing to back the reported release of two child hostages after a 10- million-peso (US$196,000) ransom was paid, officials said.
"The reported release has not happened," said military spokesman Brig. Gen. Edilberto Adan. "There is no release as of this morning, so the two hostages have not been released."
Since early Thursday, rumors of an impending release have been swirling around southern Basilan island, where the hostages are being held.
Basilan Governor Wahab Akbar told DZMM radio the Abu Sayyaf ranks were swelling from an initial estimate of 460, as a rebel recruitment drive pulled in jobless youths with offers of guns and a share of ransom money.
In a continuing military build-up on Basilan since the Abu Sayyaf claimed Sobero had been killed, officials said on Thursday there were 5,000 troops on the island, but Friday they refused to discuss numbers calling it an "operational matter."
But spokesman Lt. Col. Danilo Servando there were "sufficient forces" in the area and revealed the armed civilian militia now being prepared would total 2,442.
Government television, in an unsourced report, put the troop strength at 8,000.
New arrivals included the crack marines who rescued American Jeffrey Schilling from the Abu Sayyaf two months ago.
Schilling, who had been held for seven months, was rescued unscathed after a 30-minute gunbattle on nearby Jolo island.
"Maybe that's why they are sending us here," a marine, who asked not to be identified, told AFP as he disembarked from a navy patrol ship on Friday.
He described the unit as a "striking force" who do not have barracks and will remain out in the jungle.
While the government remained frustrated on Basilan, on nearby Jolo there was cautious optimism as notorious Abu Sayyaf leader Ghalib Andang, alias Commander Robot, was said to be ready to surrender.
Andang, who seized dozens of hostages last year, claimed his Abu Sayyaf faction had nothing to do with the latest abductions, according to presidential emissary Luis Singson.
The Abu Sayyaf on Basilan abducted Sobero and two other Americans, Martin and Gracia Burnham, from a resort on May 27. They are also holding at least two dozen Filipinos, captured in a series of raids.
Two child hostages Lalaine Chua, 12, and Kimberly Jao, 15, were said in one report to have been released after a ransom was paid, while another newspaper said the deal had fallen through.
The Malaya newspaper said Benito Chua sold his business to pay the ransom for his daughter Lalaine, but could not raise the 10 million pesos demanded.
The family of Kimberly Jao was said to have paid six million pesos, but the Abu Sayyaf used the military operations as a pretext for delaying her release.
Despite the strong military presence on Basilan, where residents live in fear of the guerrillas, the tense island capital of Isabela was rife with speculation Friday the Abu Sayyaf were preparing to enter the town.
Frightened parents were seen pulling their children out of classes at one elementary school, refusing to accept teacher assurances that rumors of Abu Sayyaf gunmen in the area were started by students as a joke.
As the news media flocked to the area, younger children preferred to pose for television cameras than listen to either parents or teachers.
Meanwhile, two people were killed and 31 wounded on Friday when an unidentified attacker tossed a grenade outside a supermarket in Iligan city in the southern Philippines, police said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the blast which occurred while thousands of troops were pursuing Muslim separatist rebels holding American and Filipino hostages for three weeks on Basilan island, also in the country's troubled south.
"I saw the grenade rolling on the pavement and I was stunned. Before I could run, there was an explosion," supermarket worker Rico Juatimar told reporters in a city hospital where he was being treated for shrapnel wounds.
A number of grenade explosions have hit Iligan in recent years, causing several deaths. Police blamed "terrorists" -- a term police generally use to refer to rebel groups -- for most of the attacks.