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Arroyo to visit hostage island
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PHILIPPINE troops continued a relentless pursuit of Muslim guerrillas holding 26 hostages yesterday, as freed captives appealed for the manhunt to be suspended for the sake of sick and faltering prisoners.
In a plea to President Gloria Arroyo, former hostage Francis Ganzon urged a temporary halt to military operations on southern Basilan island to allow the delivery of medical supplies to captives who "are suffering a lot, they are deteriorating fast".
There was no immediate response from the government, but the presidential office said Arroyo planned to visit Basilan for a first-hand inspection on Monday.
The government said the rebel leader who kidnapped the hostages had been killed.
The most senior civilian official on Basilan, the island stronghold of the self-styled Abu Sayyaf rebels, said he had confirmation the guerrilla chief, Khadafy Janjalani, was killed in a shootout with troops two weeks ago.
Ganzon, released on Saturday with 13-year-old Kimberly Jao Uy and Islamic cleric Mohaimin Latip, gave graphic details of the harsh conditions facing the hostages and told how they are taken on forced marches through the jungles at night to escape the military.
He said the 26 hostages, including three Americans, have been split into three groups by the heavily armed rebels.
Guillermo Sobero, an American the Abu Sayyaf say they beheaded, has not been seen since he was tied up and isolated from the other hostages, Ganzon said.
"They tied Sobero's hands behind his back using a thick nylon cord. Then he was brought out of the team, from where the rest of the hostages were, and that was the last time that I saw him." He could not give the exact date.
Despite media speculation that Ganzon's family paid a ransom for his release, the 50-year-old said he was freed by the Abu Sayyaf as a "gesture of goodwill" to convince Manila to bring in Malaysian mediators.
Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya told him to relay to Manila that he was willing to free all hostages if the government allowed negotiations with ex-Malaysian senator Sairin Karno and businessman Yusuf Hamdan.
The Malaysians have said they do not want to get involved, and Arroyo has described the demand as "academic" as Sabaya had claimed to have killed one American hostage and called off negotiations.
Ganzon said the massive military operation against the rebels was putting the lives of hostages in danger, and they were suffering from illness and injury.
Several hostages, including American Martin Burnham, were nursing shrapnel wounds sustained during a clash between the Abu Sayyaf and the military, he said, adding that Burnham and his wife Gracia were vulnerable to malaria.
The hostages were surviving on minimal food and sleep, and were forced to walk a minimum eight hours each night as the Abu Sayyaf evaded the endless government pursuit, he said.
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