Sayyaf rebels give troops the slip

ISABELA CITY, Basilan — Abu Sayyaf bandits, who are holding hostage a Filipina nurse and an American couple, again slipped through a tightening military cordon yesterday as government troops lost contact with them at a remote village in Maluso town.

Col. Renato Miranda, 2nd Marine Brigade commander, said it has already been three weeks since the bandits and their hostages left their lair in Barangay Upper Mahayahay in Maluso.

"We have strengthened our offensive but they remain in hiding and refuse to engage our troops (in combat)," Miranda said, adding that his men have established a fortified camp in Maluso, manned by Marine troops and US Green Berets.

Intelligence reports indicate that Isnilon Hapilon, leader of the Abu Sayyaf faction holding the three hostages, supposedly went to the Maluso area to negotiate with unidentified parties for the release of Martin and Gracia Burnham and Deborah Yap.

But Col. Alexander Aleo, commander of the 103rd Army Brigade, discouraged any negotiation for the release of the hostages if it involved the payment of ransom "because the Abu Sayyaf would milk the situation for all it was worth."

"Negotiations make abductors hold on with the game, behind the idea they would receive something soon," Aleo said, stressing that forces are now verifying various reports on the location of the bandits and their hostages, who the military believe are still hiding in the dense jungle of Sampinit complex.

The bandits kidnapped the Burnhams, an American missionary couple, and 18 Filipino tourists from an upscale resort in Palawan last May 27 and brought them to Basilan on motorized bancas.

On June 3, they released some of their hostages but seized more hostages, including Yap, a nurse working in the Lamitan town hospital.

They have since been fleeing pursuing government forces. The military has decimated their ranks and confined them to a small part of the island but they continue to evade capture through their mastery of the heavily forested and mountainous terrain.

Last month, some 160 US Army Green Beret commandos flew into Basilan for joint RP-US "Balikatan" exercises geared against the Abu Sayyaf.

The Green Berets have since deployed to different parts of the island with sophisticated military equipment including P-3C Orion surveillance planes and helicopter gunships.

Government troopers, now backed by 12-man teams of US Green Berets, have already figured in clashes with the bandits around Maluso town but they have so far failed to locate the hostages.

The military had said the Abu Sayyaf have been trying to escape Basilan because of the tightening military cordon consisting of elements from the 18th, 55th, 10th, 32nd Infantry Battalions plus the 3rd Marine Brigade, 1st Ranger Battalion and the Light Reaction Company in six towns in Basilan and the capital Isabela City.

Officials have noted that the local military’s intelligence capability has already been enhanced by the technical assistance from visiting US forces.

But the military is also concerned that the presence of US troops in the island may also pose a serious danger because the Abu Sayyaf are keen on inflicting casualties on the Americans to garner support from international terrorist groups.