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Freed hostage recounts nightmare in captivity

Associated Press
Published Sunday, June 17, 2001


Later, the rebel leader told his captives Sobero had been beheaded, said Francis Ganzon, one of three Filipino hostages freed by the rebels and reunited with their families Saturday.

Philippine soldiers hunting the rebels on the Philippines' southern Basilan Island found no trace of Sobero's body, keeping alive slim hopes that the rebels, who announced his slaying Tuesday, were only bluffing.

Ganzon, a Muslim cleric and a 13-year-old girl were freed by the rebels Thursday and walked through the jungles of Basilan before reaching safety the next evening. On Saturday, a plane flew them from Zamboanga to the capital, Manila.

''I'm happy I'll be seeing my family again,'' Ganzon told The Associated Press as he boarded the plane. ''It was a near-death experience. Nightmarish. This has to end.''

The Abu Sayyaf guerrillas still hold two dozen other hostages on Basilan, including two other Americans.

Ganzon recounted Saturday how he and other captives were snatched from a tourist resort island three weeks ago, whisked across the sea to another island, and dragged by the rebels through the jungles ahead of pursuing troops.

Ganzon said he last saw Martin and Gracia Burnham, missionaries from Kansas, three days ago and they were in the same state as the other hostages: fighting off illness and despair while nursing injuries, including a shrapnel wound in the back for Martin.

Ganzon, 50, said the guerrillas fed the captives and tried to shield them during clashes with government troops.

''But no matter how good they treated us, we were in the mountains, a very hostile environment, so we were really tired,'' Ganzon told RMN radio.

The government has vowed to crush the rebels, with troops combing Basilan in search of them. The release came amid reports the military was preparing a large-scale assault by 5,000 troops aided by civilian militiamen.

The rebels kidnapped Ganzon and 19 other people, including the Americans, from a beach resort on May 27, then eluded an air and sea search, crossing the Sulu Sea in a speedboat to Basilan, an Abu Sayyaf stronghold.

''We stayed more than 10 hours at sea,'' Ganzon said. ''It was really horrifying. We were cold and hungry.''

In the following weeks, the hostages were marched through the jungle -- where troops found two resort workers hacked to death. Dragging along their captives, the rebels invaded a hospital for a day and escaped with four new hostages despite a military assault that included helicopter gunships firing rockets.

''A lot of us had been traumatized,'' Ganzon said. ''At night, we would suddenly hear screaming'' from some hostages.

Ganzon said he last saw the 40-year-old Sobero, a tourist from Corona, Calif., on Tuesday. The rebels had tied him up and taken him aside.

Abu Sabaya, the rebel leader, later told the captives Sobero was killed because the government continued its hunt even after dropping its objection to a rebel demand for a Malaysian negotiator.

''Sabaya said that this was such a joke,'' Ganzon said. ''That night, they said they had cut his head off. But I myself did not see it.''

Also freed was Mohaimin Sahi, a Muslim cleric on Basilan, who was taken captive several days ago after going to the rebels on a private negotiation mission. The military claimed he had been beheaded and identified a headless body as his.

The rebels ''tied me up and accused me of being a military informer,'' Sahi told RMN radio. ''But they observed me ... and realized that what they accused me of was not true, and they released me.''