Sailor surfaces; NPA owns attack

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga – The communist New People’s Army claimed responsibility yesterday for the attack on a group of trekkers on the slopes of Mt. Pinatubo, including US Navy Lt. Scott Alan Washburn, who was reported missing on Tuesday.

The NPA made the admission shortly after Washburn surfaced at Clark Field in Pampanga on Wednesday night with the help of two Aeta tribesmen after hiding on the slopes of the volcano.

A certain "Ka Roman" and "Ka Elsie," who claimed to be from the NPA, said they would have held the US sailors "not as kidnap victims but as prisoners of war, depending on the place and our capability to hold them captive."

Authorities said the NPA were probably unaware that the Americans, who were in civilian clothes, were US Navy personnel who were taking a break from ongoing military exercises with their local counterparts.

Missing for some 33 hours, Washburn was flown to Manila and was presented to President Arroyo at Malacañang yesterday by US chargé d’affaires Michael Malinowski.

"Thank God, you’re safe," Mrs. Arroyo told Washburn. "Let’s have our picture taken because you were in the world news yesterday."

Washburn, 33, form Celina, Ohio, was reported missing early Tuesday after his group was attacked by heavily armed men as they were returning from an organized trek up the volcano.

His four fellow American servicemen, four Philippine Navy escorts and a travel agency guide returned safely to Angeles City on Tuesday minus their firearms and other belongings.

Washburn surfaced at Clark Field’s western gate at Barangay Sapang Bato at about 10:45 p.m. Wednesday after he decided to emerge from his hiding place during a thunderstorm.

At a press conference at Clark Field, Washburn said he walked for about three hours during a thunderstorm in search of this former US air base.

He followed a river then followed the same route they used to climb up the volcano before he found an Aeta settlement in Sapang Bato where he asked directions from two tribesmen, identified as Patricio Gutierrez and Rafael Pan.

"I am very hungry... My friends, can you help me?," he told the Aetas, who were apparently aware that a massive manhunt had been launched for Washburn and brought the American to the Clark Field security office.

He was later moved to the Air Force Haribon terminal where he almost wolfed down a large pizza with canned soft drinks.Washburn told officials he was a distance behind the others when the ambush occurred. At first, he thought the Filipino escorts’ guns had gone off accidentally until a bullet struck the ground near him and he saw his friends duck for cover.

He then ran about 200 meters away and remained hidden for hours. A blue US Navy helicopter, searching for him, flew overhead but Washburn did not recognize it as a military helicopter so he did not try to call for help.

"I just enjoyed the scenery," Washburn told reporters, refusing to reveal details of his mountain retreat pending debriefing by US Embassy and military officials.

He told officials he saw a beautiful moon on Tuesday evening and wanted to take a picture of it but he was afraid the flash of his camera would reveal his location.

Washburn only moved from hiding place when it began to rain, eventually finding the Aeta settlement.

Tourist or US Navy?

The two Aeta tribesmen who took Washburn to the authorities were treated to an official reception by no less than Vice President and Foreign Secretary Teofisto Guingona Jr.

But more importantly, Gutierrez and Pan, both contruction workers earning no more than P160 a day, were both given salaried jobs at the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) as a gesture of thanks from CDC president Emmanuel Angeles.

At a press conference at the foreign office yesterday, the two apologized for their appearance, saying they had not taken a bath or changed clothes since they escorted Washburn to Clark Field last Wednesday night.

"We don’t need money," Gutierrez said in Filipino. "But when he returns to the States we would like him to tell his friends that the katutubo (indigenous people) are actually good people."

He said their tribe was concerned at the involvement of some Aetas with a organized and armed band of robbers that operate on the slope of the volcano which Aetas consider their tribal domain.

The Aetas are the most ancient indigenous tribe in the country but have been impoverished through the centuries by land-grabbing low-landers and development projects that often displace them from mountain tribal lands.

Gutierrez said he was surprised to see Washburn at his doorstep and was embarrassed to invite the "handsome" American in "very dirty clothes" into his four by five meter hut but realized that Washburn may be the one the authorities have been looking for all day.

"Tourist or US Navy?" he asked Washburn who appeared to have been very relieved. He two later brought him to the Clark Field security office.

Gutierrez was overcome by his new celebrity.

"Para kaming artista (We are like actors)," Gutierrez told reporters.

For his part, Pan said the naval officer thanked them profusely and never left their side when they arrived at Clark.

"He hugged us and said ‘I love you’," Gutierrez said in the vernacular. "We told him: ‘I love you too’." — With reports from Marichu Villanueva, Aurea Calica, Ric Sapnu, Paolo Romero, Jose Aravilla