| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| Reporterette released by Abu Sayyaf |
| 2002-04-27 |
| A journalist who has been missing for three months was freed by former Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines early Saturday, officials said. Arlyn de la Cruz, 32, obtained the first interviews of American missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham, who are being held hostage by the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group, late last year, then vanished in late January while apparently seeking access to the captives again. Col. Romeo Tolentino said de la Cruz was freed around 5:30 a.m. on Jolo island. She was taken to the airport at Zamboanga, then was to be flown by private plane Manila. She was wearing a Muslim headdress that she took off as she arrived at the airport. "By the grace of God, I am finally home," she told reporters before leaving. "This is an answered prayer." Her friends argue de la Cruz is a hardworking reporter who has won the Abu Sayyaf's trust. Critics call her a self-promoter, questioning whether she cut a deal with the rebels to share the proceeds from interviews with its captives. She also obtained the first interviews with Western tourists snatched by the Abu Sayyaf from a Malaysian resort in 2000 - that were sold to the highest media bidder. Media had questioned whether de la Cruz had been kidnapped or staged her own disappearance because of ethics issues raised in the past over her relationship with the Abu Sayyaf, the target of a U.S.-backed search by the Philippine military on southern Basilan island. They couldn't keep her any longer or she'd have died. The U.S. and Filipino military pressure pressure is so bad, they ran out of hairspray almost a month ago. It was terrible... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |