EDITORIAL – Let the truth be known

This is a story that refuses to go away. Gracia Burnham, the American missionary who was held captive together with her husband by the Abu Sayyaf for a year in Mindanao, claimed in a book she co-wrote that a general of the Armed Forces of the Philippines had demanded half of any ransom for her and her husband. She added that during their captivity, the military sent food and other supplies to the Abu Sayyaf. The bullets that wounded her and killed her husband as well as a third hostage, Filipina nurse Edibora Yap, came from the military, Burnham said.

Burnham later tried to soften the impact of her disclosures, repeating what she said shortly after her rescue last year: the AFP did its best, and the guerrillas were the bad guys. She also conceded that she could have suffered from Stockholm Syndrome, sympathizing with her captors.

The damage to the AFP, however, has been done. This story needs closure, and the publication of Burnham’s book could pave the way for that.

It is not the first time that the AFP has come under fire for its handling of the Abu Sayyaf threat. From the terrorist group’s first major raid in Ipil town, Zamboanga del Sur eight years ago, there have been suspicions of military collusion with the guerrillas. During the first hostage crisis in 2000, there was constant talk that military officials and civilian hostage negotiators were getting a cut from the multimillion-dollar ransom payments for the foreigners snatched from a Malaysian island resort.

When the Burnhams were seized together with other guests from the Dos Palmas resort in Palawan in 2001, suspicions of collusion surfaced anew, particularly after the guerrillas and their captives managed to escape a military cordon in Basilan. The mysterious escapes of the moneyed hostages further fueled suspicions of ransom payments and military collusion. Basilan priest Cirilo Nacorda stoked the fire by openly accusing the military of being in cahoots with the Abu Sayyaf.

A congressional investigation of Nacorda’s claims yielded inconclusive results. The story eventually receded from the headlines. But now Burnham is back, repeating similar accusations. If she’s ready to talk and can substantiate her story, this could be a chance for the nation to know the truth.