Philippines Won't Heed Rebel Demand
By KOMAKO AKAI, Associated Press Writer
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AP) -
Philippine officials said Monday they will not replace the chief negotiator trying to gain
release of a U.S. hostage despite threats by Muslim rebels to boycott the talks.
The Abu Sayyaf rebels rejected
the government's selection of Vice Gov. Munib Estino of southern Sulu province because he
is a local official. They demanded someone from the national government be sent to
negotiate the release of U.S. hostage Jeffrey Schilling.
Schilling, 24, from Oakland,
Calif., has been held for a week in a jungle camp on Jolo Island, in Sulu, 580 miles south
of Manila. He is in a tightly guarded bamboo hut, rebel spokesman Abu Sabaya said Monday.
``He is under full security.
His hands are tied because two days ago he tried to escape,'' Sabaya told The Associated
Press in a telephone interview arranged by the Mindanao Radio Network.
Schilling is on a hunger strike
but is drinking water, Sabaya said.
Sabaya also demanded that
police free a suspected guerrilla - whom Sabaya said was his grandfather - before the
group will begin talks.
Police said Monday they had
arrested a 73-year-old man suspected of belonging to Abu Sayyaf and accused him of taking
part in kidnappings on the island of Basilan.
Sabaya claimed many
anti-American groups have offered to pay the rebels not to release Schilling, with the
goal of embarrassing the Philippine and U.S. governments.
``The Americans should remember
that it would be humiliating if they get Schilling already a cadaver. It's better to talk
in a nice way, and they should not insist that the local government talk to us,'' he said
in an interview with the radio network.
Pesidential press secretary
Ricardo Puno said Estino will be retained as negotiator.
``I don't think that it is the
Abu Sayyaf's option to determine who the government will select as its negotiator,'' Puno
said. ``The government feels that at this point the Sulu vice governor is the best man in
the situation to bring this process forward.''
Schilling, a Muslim convert,
was taken hostage Aug. 28 when he visited the Abu Sayyaf's camp on Jolo. The rebels
kidnapped him after he angered them in a debate about religion and politics, a newspaper
reported Sunday. The group is seeking an independent Islamic state in the mainly Roman
Catholic Philippines.
Schilling's mother, Carol, said
he has been living in Zamboanga since March with a Muslim Filipino woman, Ivi Osani. The
couple was married in a Muslim ceremony, Osani said.
Osani, who is Sabaya's second
cousin and the widow of another rebel, said she and Schilling were invited by Sabaya to
visit the Abu Sayyaf camp.
The couple had planned to live
together in California, according to Schilling's mother.
The Abu Sayyaf abducted 21
tourists and workers from Malaysia's Sipadan diving resort on April 23. Some were
released, reportedly for a huge ransom paid by Libya and Malaysia, but the rebels still
hold four from the Sipadan group, two French journalists and 12 Filipino Christian
evangelists who came to pray for the hostages in July.
Pressure for a military attack
on the rebels has grown. Puno said the government ``is still interested in pursuing a
peaceful resolution'' but that ``other options will be considered'' if the negotiations
fail.
Schilling was abducted by a
more militant Abu Sayyaf faction responsible for kidnapping about 50 schoolchildren and
teachers in March.
Two teachers were beheaded
after the United States refused the group's demand for the release of several Arab
terrorists from U.S. jails. The faction also killed a Catholic priest.
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