Commando raid to get Burnhams?

American commando forces may launch rescue operations for compatriots Martin and Gracia Burnham who have been held hostage by the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan since May, opposition Sen. Blas Ople said yesterday.

Ople said the United States may justify such rescue operation "by claiming that the lives of American nationals are at stake and that a terrorist threat anywhere is a threat against US interests."

"The Philippine government may accept such an offer to end the hostage crisis, rout the Abu Sayyaf and profit from the experience," the senator said in a statement.

The US has ruled out negotiations for the release of the Burnham couple, both members of the New Tribes Mission, and demanded their unconditional release.

US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the Pentagon was readying a team that will help Philippine authorities "prepare and deal with (crisis) situations."

"A successful rescue will validate the argument that the Abu terror would have been scuttled immediately and the hostages released with a lightning raid characterized by speed, stealth and surprise," Ople said.

He added that the mission could be viewed as a joint training exercise between Filipino and American troops.

The Burnhams, who hail from Wichita, Kansas, pleaded for foreign intervention to end their six-month ordeal, saying efforts by Philippine troops to rescue them appeared to be ineffective.

The couple were the only remaining hostages from a group of 20 people seized on May 27 by Abu Sayyaf gunmen from the upscale resort of Dos Palmas in Palawan.

A third American captured with the group was beheaded in June along with some of the Filipino captives.

In another statement, Ople led the celebration of Bonifacio Day yesterday in his home province of Bulacan.

At ceremonies held in the town of Hagonoy, Ople paid tribute to soldiers and policemen fighting terrorism in Mindanao as "modern-day heroes and successors" of the brave freedom fighters of the Katipunan founded by the national hero Andres Bonifacio.

Addressing the military-civic parade highlighting the commemorative rites, Ople warned the Muslim secessionists in Mindanao that their cause is hopeless.

"We shall never allow this country to be split asunder or our sacred territory truncated for any reason," he stressed.

"So long as our brave soldiers are willing to die for their country, no secessionist movement will prosper anywhere in the land," Ople said.