Sabaya still alive, says former hostage

The Abu Sayyaf’s flamboyant spokesman is still alive and hiding in a Zamboanga del Norte town, according to a Roman Catholic priest who has accused the military in the past of colluding with the bandits.

Using the new alias Abu Muslim, Abu Sabaya is holed up in Kalawit town with about 40 henchmen, Fr. Cirilo Nacorda said, citing a "reliable source."

But the military insisted Sabaya was killed in a clash with government troops in June last year.

Nacorda added that Sabaya even participated in the May 4 attack on Siocon town in the same province by the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

"The reported killing of Sabaya was scripted," said Nacorda, a parish priest in Lamitan, Basilan, an Abu Sayyaf stronghold. He said Sabaya had gone into hiding in neighboring Indonesia before going to Kalawit.

"But just like the case of Gracia Burnham, who recently came up with a book, it will not gain serious government attention," Nacorda said, referring to an American missionary who was rescued from the Abu Sayyaf two weeks before Sabaya was reported killed.

In her recently released book recounting her ordeal, "In the Presence of My Enemies," Burnham had also claimed that the military colluded with the Abu Sayyaf, a charge the military denied. — With Mike Frialde