AFP: Burnhams still in Basilan

Armed Forces chief Gen. Diomedio Villanueva shrugged off as mere speculation stories making the rounds that Martin and Gracia Burnham are no longer in Basilan.

The Burnhams are still being held in Basilan by the Abu Sayyaf, Villanueva told reporters yesterday at Fort del Pilar in Baguio City where he was guest of honor and speaker during a recognition ceremony for 201 plebes of the Philippine Military Academy.

But he would not divulge ongoing military operations on the island to smoke out the terrorists who have been holding the Burnham couple and Filipina nurse Deborah Yap captive for almost nine months now, saying "these are tactical matters."

Meanwhile, the military has intensified its offensive operations against the Abu Sayyaf rebels who seem to be regaining their strength.

A spy of the Abu Sayyaf was killed in an encounter with government militia Saturday noon near the highway of Lamitan town, Basilan,

Lt. Col. Danilo Servando, spokesman for the military’s Southern Command (Southcom) and Balikatan 02-1, said the encounter took place after a team of the civilian volunteer organization (CVO) caught up with four "spotters" of the Abu Sayyaf in sitio Tinog, barangay Ubit in Lamitan.

The slain spy was identified as Rommel Villamor alias Faisal, believed to be involved in the abduction of Christian villagers in Barangay Balobo, Lamitan in July last year. The Abu Sayyaf beheaded 10 of the Balobo captives and released around 14, mostly children and women, a week after the abduction.

The Abu Sayyaf, with the help of their spotters, are reportedly planning to seize foreign journalists covering the RP-US military training exercises.

A firefight also erupted when troops from the 6th Infantry Battalion stormed yesterday a lair of the Abu Sayyaf in the jungle of Patikul, Sulu.

Army Maj. Noel Detoyato, deputy spokesman for the Southcom, said the fighting broke out in barangay Cabuntakas around 1:45 p.m., in an assault against the rebels who ambushed and killed six soldiers Friday in Barangay Kanjamak, including Army 2Lt. Raymond Hernandez.

Detoyato said the rebels suffered undetermined casualties from the attack. There was no immediate report of any casualty on the troopers’ side.

The band, a merger of the Sulu-based Abu Sayyaf and renegade forces identified with jailed Moro leader Nur Misuari, is believed to be led by Ghalib Andang alias Commander Robot, who, with his associates Mujib Susukan, Radulan Sahiron and Abu Pula, was responsible for a number of kidnappings, including the Sipadan raid on April 3, 2000 where they seized 21 people, mostly Europeans and Malaysians, and carried them off to Sulu.

Except for Roland Ullah, a Filipino diver, all the hostages were freed after reportedly paying a huge ransom.

With offensives being launched against bands of Abu Sayyaf in Basilan and the discovery of an Abu Sayyaf plot to abduct Caucasian journalists, the military has cautioned the foreign press against stepping outside of Isabela City, the capital of Basilan.

Army Ranger Battalion Commander Capt. Harold Cabunoc described the threats of abduction of foreign journalists as "serious."

Foreign journalists have flocked to Basilan to cover the operations against the Abu Sayyaf who are still holding hostage three hostages from a kidnapping spree in May last year.

Captain Cabunoc said the journalists have been hiring locals, including children, to act as guides.

Colonel Servando gave assurances that appropriate security is being provided for the visiting journalists. — Artemio Dumlao, Roel Pareño, Christina Mendez