DATE=8/30/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=PHILIPPINES HOSTAGE (L) CQ
NUMBER=2-265975
BYLINE=AMY BICKERS
DATELINE=TOKYO
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
////// DROPS LAST PHRASE OF INTRO TO CR2-265975. /////
INTRO: The United States is refusing to negotiate
with extremist Muslim rebels in the southern
Philippines who are holding an American man hostage.
V-O-A's Amy Bickers reports.
TEXT: The Abu Sayyaf rebel group says its American
hostage will be killed unless negotiations are held.
A rebel spokesman says the group will issue detailed
demands later this week. In a local radio interview,
he demanded that representatives of North Korea,
China, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Libya also take part in
the talks.
Jeffrey Craig Schilling of California was taken
hostage Monday in the southern Philippines city of
Zamboanga. What he was doing there remains unclear.
The U-S Consul-General to the Philippines denies that
he is a spy, as alleged by the rebels.
His mother, Carole Schilling, also denies the
allegations. She says her son went to the Philippines
in March, married a Philippine woman and was abducted
during a visit to Jolo.
/// SCHILLING ACT ///
The U-S Embassy has contacted me several times,
and the U-S State Department, also. We are just
hoping to find out what it is they want and I
would like to know that he is still safe.
/// END ACT ///
The kidnapping came as another faction of the Abu
Sayyaf freed six of the two-dozen captives it had held
on Jolo Island. Many of the hostages had been held
for four months. Millions of dollars of ransom has
reportedly been paid.
But State Department spokesman Phil Reeker says the
United State will not negotiate:
/// REEKER ACT ///
U-S policy is very clear: We do not make deals
with terrorists. We will not pay ransom. We
will not change policies. We will not release
prisoners or make any other concessions that
will reward hostage-taking.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Schilling is the first American, but the latest
victim of Abu Sayyaf kidnappers demanding huge sums of
money. The group has taken dozens of foreign and
local people hostage since April. About 20 people
remain captive on remote Jolo Island.
The rebels have said that one of their demands for
releasing Mr. Schilling will be for the United States
to free three Islamic militants serving prison
sentences for the bombing of the World Trade Center in
1993. The United States rejects the demand outright.
But a spokesman for the Philippine government told
reporters that Manila will negotiate for Mr.
Schilling's release, saying it is his country's
responsibility to do so.
But others in the Philippine government have expressed
concerns that the large ransom payments recently made
to the rebels and protracted negotiations have
encouraged the latest abduction. (SIGNED)
NEB/HK/AB/JO/rae
30-Aug-2000 08:01 AM EDT (30-Aug-2000 1201 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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