Gracia: No Abu-AFP collusion

American missionary Gracia Burnham wept as she testified against six of her alleged abductors in a heavily guarded court yesterday, recounting a year of jungle captivity and saying that the Islamic extremists who kidnapped her celebrated the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States.

However, Burnham said there was no collusion between the military and the Abu Sayyaf in collecting millions of dollars in ransom for her fellow hostages.

At the start of her three-hour testimony, Burnham pointed to six of the suspects — Alhamser Manatad Limbong, Abdul Assan Djamla alias Abu Umbran, Khayr Muctar alias Abu Khair, Basher Ismael, Abu Daud and Alsen Balintung Jandul — as among those she saw at the Abu Sayyaf camp in Basilan where they were held in captivity.

A government prosecutor said Burnham was brought to tears twice, one when she described the death of her husband, Martin, during a military rescue operation.

Martin was killed along with Filipina nurse Edibora Yap.

Philippine authorities and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents brought Burnham from an undisclosed Manila safehouse to a special court at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig where eight Abu Sayyaf guerrillas accused in the kidnapping were standing trial. She arrived in the country in secrecy late Monday and is set to leave today at 11 a.m. She is expected to read a short pre-departure statement to reporters at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, court sources said.

Police barred journalists, photographers and TV cameras from the proceedings at the camp, which was tightly guarded by Army Special Forces.

Burnham was whisked into the courtroom wearing a baseball cap and a black jacket over a bulletproof vest, her head bowed to avoid cameras.

Authorities reportedly used decoys, dressed in clothes similar to Burnham’s, to mislead photographers and cameramen.

Burnham, from Wichita, Kansas, was invited to testify under a mutual legal assistance treaty between Washington and Manila. The trial is part of the Philippines’ quest to impose justice on suspected militants from the Abu Sayyaf group accused of mass kidnappings, deadly bombings and beheadings.

Pasig City Regional Trial Court Branch 69 Judge Lorifel Pahimna heard Burnham’s testimony. Pahimna has jurisdiction over the charges of kidnapping and serious illegal detention with ransom against the eight suspects, who all pleaded not guilty during the arraignment.

Prosecutor Aristotle Reyes said the eight handcuffed suspects, wearing yellow prison uniforms, were separated from Burnham by a wooden grill.

"According to her, she cannot forget them because she ate and lived with them for almost a year," he said. "So far, she is the witness who had the clearest recollection of what happened."

Burnham also was shown a rusty dog chain, attached to two padlocks and handcuffs on one end, and was asked if it was used to shackle her husband Martin to a tree.

"I recognize that chain," he quoted Burnham as saying.

Reyes said he also showed Burnham blue rubber boots she had worn during her captivity. She cried when prosecutors showed her photos of a speedboat and a banca, which she identified as the ones the bandits had used.

"Gracia gave a very smooth narration of her ordeal. It was the strongest corroborative evidence," he said. "We have a strong case."

Burnham’s book, "In the Presence of My Enemies," stirred controversy because of her allegations that an unnamed Filipino general tried to keep half of the money raised for a possible ransom and that soldiers delivered food and sold weapons to the guerrillas.

However, she testified that she did not observe any collusion between the military and the Abu Sayyaf, according to government prosecutors.

Burnham also said she came to know that a P15-million ransom was paid for their release but the group’s spokesman, Abu Sabaya, wanted $1 million more and refused to release them.

No Collusion

State Prosecutor Nestor Lazaro said they had objected to questions about the reported collusion, but Burnham had answered clearly that "there was no collusion between the (Abu Sayyaf) and the military."

Reyes explained that the issue "is irrelevant and inconsistent with the case. It will only clutter the records of the case so we objected to that question and it was sustained by the court."

But Lazaro said "everything is on record anyway, the judge had the testimony on video and tape. She said it under oath. She was no longer able to elaborate."

Acting Justice Secretary Merceditas Gutierrez said Burnham’s "remark, given under oath, in open court should clarify any uncertainties" in her book.

The Burnhams, longtime missionaries for the Florida-based New Tribes Mission, were celebrating their 18th wedding anniversary when the Abu Sayyaf snatched them at a posh resort off Palawan on May 27, 2001, taking them by speedboat to Basilan.

Also seized were Guillermo Sobero of Corona, California, and 17 Filipino workers and tourists. Sobero was among several hostages beheaded.

Prosecutor Leo Dacera said Burnham was critical to the case because she was the longest-held hostage.

"She is important in the sense that she would have first-hand knowledge of the suspects who last held her... to tie up the whole conspiracy from beginning to end," he said.

Dacera said Burnham did not only point to four of the six suspects she identified but stated their names. He also said Burnham and her husband would always engage the four suspects in theological and religious discussions while they were in captivity.

He noted that Muctar was well-educated, articulate and able to speak several languages, including Arabic and English.

But a lawyer for Limbong said her testimony would not hurt his defense. Government prosecutors allege Limbong, also known as "Kosovo," beheaded Sobero.

"It’s only good for drama, but for purposes of establishing guilt beyond reasonable doubt, the Burnham testimony is not enough. We have witnesses who say that he is innocent," said defense lawyer Oliver Lozano.

Lozano also denied that his client was the same person known as Kosovo, but prosecutors said "even Kosovo himself admitted his name is Alhamser Limbong."

Human rights lawyer Pura Ferrer-Calleja said Limbong was the first suspect Burnham identified.

"She said the six respondents were with the group who abducted, guided and guarded them all the while, during the period of their captivity, but she did not see them at Dos Palmas," Calleja said.

She added that her clients, Mohamadia Maja Hamja and Maulirin Mobasirin, were not implicated. But Reyes said the two suspects were identified by other witnesses.

Police Chief Inspector Bartolome Bustamante said Burnham was "poised and calm and speaking spontaneously" on the witness stand.

"She didn’t sound emotional or rattled," Bustamante said, adding she had broken down only when prosecutors presented items used by her husband during their 13-month captivity.

For Burnham, the trial also could provide closure to her 377-day nightmare.

An Army raid on June 7, 2002, left her with a gunshot wound to her thigh and killed her husband and Filipino nurse Edibora Yap in a jungle ravine near the southern coastal town of Sirawai, Zamboanga del Norte. The raid ended a hostage crisis that prompted Washington to provide counterterrorism training for Philippine forces.

Other hostages were ransomed off, freed or escaped.

Burnham’s book also linked her captors to Osama bin Laden. She said that in May 2001 — four months before the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States — they told Martin Burnham to say in a ransom message that he was being held by "the Osama bin Laden group."

After the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, "there was jubilation. They were patting each other’s back," Reyes quoted Burnham as testifying.

Hearing "Star-Spangled Banner" on a Voice of America broadcast, Abu Solaiman, an Abu Sayyaf leader who remains at large, made Martin Burnham recite the line "The land of the free and the home of the brave," Burnham testified.

"Then, very proudly, Solaiman said, ‘Let’s see now how brave you Americans are,’" Reyes quoted Burnham as recounting.

A day after Burnham’s arrival in Manila, Solaiman belittled her testimony and ordeal.

"Gracia, you only lost Martin, but for us, we lost our homeland ... almost everything we have in this world," Solaiman said in a radio interview.

He said many former hostages have testified against the Abu Sayyaf, "but we are still here."

US-backed offensives dislodged the guerrillas from their jungle lairs on Basilan. Philippine officials now consider the group a spent force, down from about 1,000 guerrillas four years ago to about 300, although it has been linked to several recent terror attacks.

Gutierrez said Burnham’s testimony would boost the case against the Abu Sayyaf. Philippine authorities allege the group was set up in the early 1990s with seed funds from al-Qaeda leader Bin Laden.

"We are happy with the arrival of Mrs. Burnham," Gutierrez said. "If she agrees to stay longer, she might also want to take the opportunity to meet with some of the former hostages."

"Definitely the testimony of Gracia Burnham will strengthen our case against those Abu Sayyaf members who were involved," said military spokesman Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero.

Thanks For The Time

Meanwhile, Malacañang thanked Burnham for testifying against her abductors.

"We’d like to thank her for taking the time to come here to testify before our courts in order to prosecute" the Abu Sayyaf, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said.

He could not confirm if Burnham would be able to meet with President Arroyo, saying he did not know the missionary’s schedule.

"What we’re concerned (about) right now is to provide her with security so that for the rest of her stay she would be protected," Bunye said. "And we’d like to see to it that (her) visit will not entail any inconvenience on her part."

Mrs. Arroyo last met with Burnham immediately after she was rescued from her abductors.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) denied a claim by self-proclaimed police undercover agent Mary "Rosebud" Ong that Burnham was with FBI agents during a dinner Tuesday night, when FBI agent Douglas Swaggerty had a heart attack.

Ricardo Diaz, chief of the NBI’s International Police division, said Burnham has never gone to any public place since she arrived in the country last Monday.

He said Ong made a "baseless" conclusion when she saw two blonde women with NBI and FBI agents during a dinner in the VIP room of the Heritage Hotel.

"She must have mistaken either June Ellen Cvechko or Beth Saymon, both veteran FBI agents here as resource persons for the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System, (for Burnham)," Diaz said.

Ong had claimed that Burnham, wearing a dark blue dress, attended to Swaggerty by massaging his feet. Diaz said Cvechko wore a dark blue dress, while Saymon wore a black dress during the dinner.

Diaz, quoting reports relayed to him by FBI agents, also said the Burnham’s eldest son, 17-year-old Jeff, is studying how to fly a plane so he could continue the missionary work of his parents.

Jeff has two other siblings — Mindy, 14, and Zach, 13.

"According to the FBI, the eldest son has made a commitment that he will continue the missionary work of his parents. He has no bad feelings towards the Philippines, where his parents were held hostage for more than a year. He apparently has strong faith in God," Diaz said. — With reports from Edu Punay, Marichu Villanueva, Cecille Suerte Felipe, AFP