GMA to meet US solon on mercy mission

BAGUIO CITY — President Arroyo said yesterday she would meet with US congressman Todd Tiahrt, who is scheduled to arrive in Manila shortly for a personal mercy mission for an American couple held captive by Abu Sayyaf Muslim gunmen in the south.

"We will be meeting on the evening of Jan. 1," Mrs. Arroyo told reporters at the Mansion House here where she is on holiday with her family.

She did not divulge details of what they would be discussing, but Republican Representative Tiahrt earlier said he would try to urge Mrs. Arroyo to allow US troops join a rescue operation for Martin and Gracia Burnham in the jungle terrain of Basilan island.

Tiahrt said he had met with Martin Burnham’s parents, who hail from his state of Kansas.

"The whole purpose of the trip is to try to get our troops involved in the rescue. We have highly trained, highly skilled professionals at hostage rescue but we are always courteous to ask for the invitation from the government," Tiahrt had said.

"We haven’t had the invitation yet," he said.

Some 5,000 soldiers scouring Basilan island have been receiving training and equipment from US advisers dispatched by President George W. Bush as a reward for Manila’s staunch support of his global war against terrorism.

But US soldiers have been barred from joining actual combat operations.

Mrs. Arroyo again stressed "it will be difficult to send American combatants" to Basilan, where the Burnham couple and Filipina nurse Deborah Yap remain captive in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf.

She said US troopers could offer their expertise only as advisors or trainors for the Filipino troops.

Armed Forces chief Gen. Diomedio Villanueva said Tiahrt wanted personally to visit the hostage island to make a first-hand assessment of the situation.

"I will be joining Tiahrt to Basilan, but before that, we will have a series of meetings before going there any time next week," Villanueva said.

The Burnhams were snatched along with 18 other hostages while vacationing at the upscale Dos Palmas island resort off Palawan on May 27. A third American, Guillermo Sobero, was earlier beheaded by the rebels but most of the Filipino hostages escaped or were freed after alleged ransom payments.

The gunmen however subsequently snatched more Filipino hostages in Basilan, including Yap, who according to hostages freed earlier was looking after the American couple’s health. — Artemio Dumlao