Ediborah’s son to fight Abus

LAMITAN, Basilan — The 17-year-old son of slain hostage Ediborah Yap wants to join the Army to fight the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group, which has been blamed for his mother’s death.

Armed Forces chief Gen. Roy Cimatu was said to have assured Jonathan Yap the other day of help in enlisting when he turns 18 next year.

President Arroyo told Yap’s family and other residents yesterday Jonathan "wants to help" fight the Abu Sayyaf as a soldier of the Republic.

Mrs. Arroyo also said she will name a hospital in honor of Yap and that she is just looking for an "appropriate" hospital that will be known as the "Ediborah Yap Memorial Hospital."

The hospital may be located in Basilan, Sulu, Zamboanga del Norte or any other place in Mindanao where the Abu Sayyaf has sown terror.

Basilan residents welcomed Mrs. Arroyo with streamers demanding that the government "finish off" the Abu Sayyaf. They also demanded justice for Yap and other victims of the Abu Sayyaf attack on St. Peter’s Church and Dr. Jose Torres Memorial Hospital on June 2 last year.

"Since that June 2 (2001) incident, people have come forward and expressed the truth of what they witnessed," read a marker commemorating the attack. "They signed it with their lives and future of their own and their loved ones."

Mrs. Arroyo warned that "unless the war against poverty is won, we will have another generation, another outburst sometime in the future."

A statue of Ediborah Yap dressed in a nurse’s white uniform and complete with cap may stand in front of the hospital that will be named after her so Filipinos will never forget her heroism.

And when the next generation asks who Ediborah Yap was, old folk would say that she was a nurse who was snatched and held hostage by the Abu Sayyaf for more than a year until she was killed during a military rescue operation in the jungles of Zamboanga del Norte on June 7, 2002.

They might also tell them that she took care of fellow hostages, American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham, during their year-long captivity in the jungles of Basilan.

And this continued through their long trek from Basilan to escape pursuing government troops, hopping from one island to another until they reached the rainforest of Zamboanga del Norte.

Upon arrival in Lamitan, Mrs. Arroyo went straight to the wake of Yap at St. Peter’s Formation Center to mourn with her family and other residents.

Mrs. Arroyo talked for an hour with Yap’s mother, Fatima Pamaran, before heading for Claret town where she held a Cabinet meeting with officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) for the Regional Economic Planning and Development Board.

Yap will be buried at 8 a.m. on Friday on the grounds of the Dr. Jose Torres Memorial Hospital, beside Torres, founder of the hospital, where Yap was snatched on June 2 last year.

Mrs. Arroyo stayed overnight in Lamitan so she can be in today’s flag-raising ceremonies at the town proper to mark the 104th Independence Day celebrations.

Mrs. Arroyo will hoist the Philippine flag in Lamitan at 7 a.m. today to set off similar activities at the Aguinaldo shrine in Kawit, Cavite; the Rizal Monument along Roxas Boulevard in Manila; and other parts of the country.

Speaking before Lamitan residents yesterday, Mrs. Arroyo said they must strive hard to "regain" the trust and confidence of the government and the military.

"I will be with you, people of Lamitan in the celebration of Independence Day, to declare the freedom of the people of Basilan from the bondage of poverty and terrorism," she said.

"When Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo raised the Philippine flag (on June 12, 1898), it didn’t mean that the (Filipinos) had already gained their freedom. He declared that we are free and ready to defend our freedom with blood and sweat."

Last year, the people of Lamitan criticized the government and the military because their town was placed under the gun after the Abu Sayyaf snatched several nurses, including Yap, she added. — Roel Pareño, Paolo Romero, Mayen Jaymalin, AFP