Filipino Hostage Rescued From Rebels
By JIM GOMEZ, Associated Press Writer
JOLO, Philippines (AP) - A
Filipino hostage held for three months by Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines was
rescued Monday, a top military official said.
Military Chief of Staff Angelo
Reyes said the military also had convincing leads on the location of at least some of the
16 other hostages being held by the Abu Sayyaf rebels.
The rescued hostage, Fernando
Solon, was one of 12 Filipino Christian evangelists who were abducted July 1 when they
visited a rebel camp to pray for other hostages held by the guerrillas.
Reyes said Solon was rescued
early Monday by the 59th Infantry Brigade, although he did not know exact details.
Solon is the first hostage to
be rescued since Sept. 16, when more than 5,000 troops attacked the rebels on southern
Jolo island. Two French journalists earlier held hostage escaped in the confusion caused
by the attack.
The rescue assault has taken
far longer than the military had predicted, and Reyes admitted earlier Monday that the
military underestimated the rebels' strength.
The rebels have been holding an
American, three Malaysians and 13 Filipinos, including Solon.
Reyes said 117 rebels are
believed to have died in the attack, while four government troops were killed.
More than 88,000 villagers have
fled their homes to escape the fighting, military officials said.
Military leaders have admitted
they had made a number of mistakes in the rescue assault, originally predicted to take as
little as three days. The military expected the Abu Sayyaf would fight back instead of
fleeing into the jungle, and did not foresee the amount of popular support it enjoyed on
the predominantly Muslim island, they said.
The military estimates the Abu
Sayyaf had about 4,000 armed men when the assault began - up from only 300 when the rebels
began a kidnapping spree in March which netted scores of hostages.
Many recruits joined the rebels
to share in more than $15 million in ransom paid by Libya and Malaysia, the military says.
Unconfirmed reports say many
civilians have been killed or injured. Independent verification has been impossible
because many areas of Jolo have been shut off to journalists.
Thirteen of the hostages -
Jeffrey Schilling of Oakland, Calif., and the 12 evangelists from the Jesus Miracle
Crusade - were seized after they voluntarily visited the rebels' camps. The three
Malaysians and a Filipino were kidnapped from Malaysian diving resorts.
Schilling, 24, a Muslim
convert, was accompanied to the Abu Sayyaf camp by his Filipino wife, Ivi Osani, who is
the second cousin of the rebels' spokesman and the widow of a guerrilla killed several
years ago by government troops.
Back to Sipadan/Pandanan Hostages News
Back
to This Week's Borneo News |
