‘We have no money to pay for ransom’

ZAMBOANGA CITY — As US troops prepared to help flush out the Abu Sayyaf, the younger sister of one of the American hostages appealed to the terrorists yesterday to release their captives.

"We have no money for ransom," Mary Jones, the younger sister of American missionary Gracia Burnham, said on radio.

Holding back tears, Jones, a 36-year-old teacher from Ohio, spoke over Radio Mindanao Network dxRZ, hoping that her appeal would reach Abu Sayyaf leaders Abu Sabaya and Khadaffy Janjalani, who have been holding her sister and brother-in-law Martin for eight months now in the jungles of Basilan.

"I would like to make a personal appeal to the Abu Sayyaf to please not harm Martin and Gracia and to work with the Filipino go-vernment and the New Tribes Mission to resolve the situation and to secure the release ... so that they can come home to their children and family," she said.

Jones gave the telephone number of the New Tribes Mission to which the Burnhams belong, and asked Sabaya and Janjalani to phone its office in Manila to talk about releasing the American couple.

"We have seen their pictures on various news broadcasts and we see how emaciated, tired and weak they are," she said. "We are all very afraid of what might happen to Martin and Gracia. They have three children who are very frightened and need them very much. Harming them will not solve anything and only deprive their children of their parents."

Jones said it has been very difficult for her family to understand how "something like this" could happen to Martin and Gracia, who lived very simple lives and cared for their children, and helped Filipinos a lot.

"They are both very kind and generous," she said. "They are missionaries and lived good lives and lived for many years in the Philippines trying to help the Filipino people."

Outside the radio station here, dozens of curious onlookers gathered, listening to the broadcast of Jones via loudspeakers on the streets.

The broadcast was said to have reached the jungles and remote barangays of Basilan, about 20 kilometers away.

Jones secretly flew here yesterday with her husband and an unidentified US Embassy official, and returned to Manila after making the appeal.

Jones briefly met with Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu, chief of the Armed Forces Southern Command, at the VIP lounge of Edwin Andrews Air Base here to extend her appreciation to government troops for their effort to free her sister and brother-in-law.

"The family realize (the Burnhams’ recovery) is being done cautiously," she told reporters after the meeting. "We realize many soldiers were killed in the battlefield in the rescue operation."

Cimatu later told reporters he assured Jones that the troops under his command are doing everything to speed up the rescue of the Burnhams from the clutches of the Abu Sayyaf.

"I have here with me the two field commanders of my troops from Basilan, Col. Alexander Aleo, 103rd Brigade commander, and Col. Renato Miranda, 3rd Marine Brigade commander, to discuss the progress of the rescue effort," he told Jones.

Jones expressed her thanks to the soldiers, especially those killed and wounded in the operation to rescue the Burnhams, he added.

In a statement, the US Embassy said it is assisting Jones in her visit to the country as a private citizen so she could gain a better understanding of the situation of her sister and brother-in-law, who have been in Abu Sayyaf captivity for the past eight months.

"Ms. Jones will be meeting with officials of the US Embassy in Manila, and with officials of the Philippine government," read the embassy statement.

The Burnhams have been held hostage in the jungles of Basilan since Abu Sayyaf bandits snatched them from the Dos Palmas island resort off Palawan on May 27 last year while celebrating their 18th wedding anniversary.

The US government has linked the Abu Sayyaf to the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden, wanted for the Sept. 11 attacks on the US.

Government officials said the Abu Sayyaf is demanding $1 million for each of the Burnhams and about $2,000 for Filipina nurse Deborah Yap, the other remaining captive.

About 160 US Special Forces are to travel to Basilan and enter combat zones to observe Filipino troops.