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Philippine Separatists Threaten to Behead Hostage
Muslim separatists threatened Monday to behead a U.S. hostage on April 5 as a "birthday gift" to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo unless the ambassador of Saudi Arabia meets them.
Abu Sabaya, a leader of the extremist Abu Sayyaf group in the south, told the local Radio Mindanao Network that his men will kill Jeffrey Schilling, captive since last August, on Thursday evening.
The Abu Sayyaf has set, and missed, several self-imposed deadlines to kill Schilling, a 25-year-old resident of Oakland, Calif., in recent months.
"Schilling is seriously sick, but we have decided to kill him and offer his head as a gift to President Arroyo," he said.
Arroyo turns 54 on Thursday. Abu Sayyaf beheaded two Filipino hostages last year, on April 19, as a "birthday gift" to then-President Joseph Estrada as he turned 63.
Arroyo told reporters at her weekly press conference Monday that "our armed forces have the situation well in control" and reiterated a refusal to talk with Abu Sayyaf rebels.
"We are not joking," Sabaya said of the latest threat. "You better inform his mother in the U.S. about his execution so she may talk for the last time to her son."
The group, angered by refusals of the U.S. and Philippine governments to pay $10 million in ransom, has claimed Schilling was wounded by a stray bullet in a battle with government forces in January.
The group has also said Schilling is gravely ill, coughing blood and has been unable to eat for months. They said Schilling has tried to kill himself repeatedly and has developed heart problems.
Schilling, a Muslim convert, was taken by the rebels after he visited their camp in Jolo on Aug. 31. Schilling was accompanied by girlfriend Ivy Osani, Sabaya's cousin. Osani was freed after the rebels seized Schilling.
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