Ediborah comes home a heroine

LAMITAN, Basilan (AFP) – The body of Filipina nurse Ediborah Yap, who was slain along with a US missionary in a bloody rescue attempt last week, was returned yesterday to her hometown to an emotional hero’s welcome.

Hundreds of Lamitan residents welcomed the Navy patrol craft that ferried Yap’s remains from Zamboanga City to here, two days after the rescue attempt that ended a 376-day hostage crisis by the Muslim Abu Sayyaf rebels.

Women and children were seen crying as dozens of heavily armed government militiamen stood guard, an AFP photographer said.

A banner at the port said "Ediborah, you will always be remembered."

At Malacañang, President Arroyo described the slain nurse as "truly a heroine."

She said despite the tortuous and dangerous situation they were in under the hands of the Abu Sayyaf, Yap took care of her fellow hostages, the Burnhams, especially when they were ill.

Yap’s body was taken to Lamitan’s parish church for a special Mass which was attended by both Christians and Muslims in the religiously mixed town.

The church was nearly devastated when the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas raided it and an adjacent hospital compound on June 2 last year, during which Yap was kidnapped along with several hospital staff.

Martin and Gracia Burnham, a missionary couple from Wichita, Kansas, were abducted separately days earlier from a beach resort in western Palawan island and taken to Basilan.

The three were the last from among dozens of hostages taken in last year’s kidnapping spree by the rebels. The others were freed or murdered, including another American, Guillermo Sobero, of California.

Martin Burnham also died in Friday’s clash between the military and the Abu Sayyaf, while Gracia was wounded but rescued.

Parish priest Cirilo Nacorda, himself an Abu Sayyaf kidnap victim in the past, urged the public to pray for Yap and the Burnhams in an emotional and solemn service punctuated by the loud sobs of Yap’s relatives and friends.

Yap had reportedly refused to leave the Burnham couple, who had fallen gravely ill during their ordeal, despite several instances when she could have walked off or escaped.

"I would say that Deborah and the Burnhams are brave people, truly brave because they have survived for more than a year," until Friday’s rescue attempt, Nacorda said.

Yap, a mother of four, "could not afford to be given freedom and leave the others behind."

"She is a brave woman and she sacrificed a lot," Nacorda stressed.

Yap’s children said that they did not blame the government for her tragic death.

"We can’t blame anyone. They didn’t mean it," said Yap’s eldest son, Jonathan, during an earlier funeral service in Zamboanga City as his seven-year-old brother, Bon-bon, wept nearby.

He said he heard of his mother’s death from a television report in Zamboanga City.

The 23-year-old Jonathan Yap said he was not angry at the soldiers. "I am angry at the Abu Sayyaf. They can’t stop their kidnappings."

"We have accepted everything. Let the soul of Deborah rest in peace. We have nothing to say about who is to blame," said David Pamaran, Ediborah’s brother.

Another of Yap’s sons, Anthony, 20, expressed a desire to become a soldier to avenge his mother’s death.

Armed Forces chief General Roy Cimatu, who met with the family at the funeral, instructed local military officials to help the Yaps and told them to facilitate Anthony Yap’s enlistment.

Anthony Yap said once he becomes a soldier, he would not let the Abu Sayyaf run wild in Basilan again.

"I know who they are. We are all from Basilan, so I know something about them."

In the line of duty

The President said Yap’s four children — Jonathan, Anthony, Mary Ann, 18, and Lawrence (Bon-bon) — were to meet with Gracia Burnham yesterday afternoon at the United States Chancery along Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City where the former hostage is recuperating.

"Ediborah died in the line of duty, she was taken hostage when she was doing her duty (in Jose Torres Hospital in Lamitan) as a nurse and even in captivity, she was doing her duty," Mrs. Arroyo told reporters at Malacañang after meeting with Yap’s children, mother Fatima and brother Dave Pamaran yesterday.

"What Gracia related to me was that Ediborah was truly a heroine," she said.

She said Gracia requested her during her visit to the US Chancery Saturday night that before she leaves for her hometown in Kansas, she wants to meet Yap’s children to thank them and to "tell them many stories about their mother."

Mrs. Arroyo said Yap’s children are also eager to meet Mrs. Burnham to listen to her stories about their year-long captivity under the Abu Sayyaf.

"She’s been with their mother for one year and Gracia is sure that the children want to know many details about how their mother has been throughout this past year," she said.

Mary Ann refused to join the meeting at Malacañang because she did not want to be interviewed by media.

During the President’s meeting with Gracia, the former hostage repeatedly expressed appreciation to the Filipino soldiers for their effort in rescuing her from the Abu Sayyaf.

"She (Gracia) was very gracious and she kept telling me that I should be proud of my soldiers," she said.

Ediborah is expected to be buried tomorrow in Lamitan.

The President ordered yesterday Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman to extend additional assistance to the Yap family that would enable them to engage in sustainable livelihood.

Shortly after Yaps’ abduction on June 2, 2001, the President took Anthony, Mary Ann and Lawrence under her scholarship program, which she said would continue until their graduation from college.

Jonathan is working at an uncle’s fishing business, while Anthony appears determined to be enlisted in the army.

"He (Anthony) thinks he can help keep peace in Basilan," Soliman said.

Meanwhile, a senator proposed yesterday that the government put up financial assistance, including academic scholarships for the four children of Yap.

"We cannot bring back her life but the least we can do in her memory is provide assistance to her family," Sen. Tessie Aquino-Oreta said in a statement.

Oreta also called on Mrs. Arroyo to effect a sweeping overhaul of the Armed Forces leadership if it fails to wipe out the Abu Sayyaf soon enough.

"Our military generals have no excuse left in their arsenal not to finish off the Abu Sayyaf bandits especially with the year-long hostage crisis finally over and with the full support they enjoy from the Palace as well as from the United States military," she said. — With Paolo Romero, Aurea Calica