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American Morning

Philippines Hostages: Rebels Claim to Have Killed American Hostage

Aired June 12, 2001 - 09:03   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: In other news today, the State Department says it's looking into reports out of the Philippines that a rebel group has killed an American hostage. Muslim rebels say they have beheaded California tourist Guillermo Sobero. He is one of three Americans and several Filipinos kidnapped by the rebels. The U.S. Embassy in Manila condemned the reported killing as a cowardly act.

Joining us on the phone right now from Manila with the latest is reporter Cecilia Lazaro.

Cecilia, what do you know of this report?

CECILIA LAZARO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, like you said, there has been no official confirmation of the claim made by the group's spokesperson 12 hours after that rebel group, Abu Sayyaf announced over local radio that they had beheaded Guillermo Sobero, one of the three American hostages taken by the Abu Sayyaf some two weeks ago.

The government announced it will step up military operations and the deployment of additional troops has already begun. The military continues to scour the dense jungle area of Basilan, where the group is still believed to be.

At the diplomatic reception to celebrate Independence Day today in the Philippines, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said that the Abu Sayyaf trampled on the values of Islam and of humanity. Adding that the group had broken its own promise not to behead the hostages after the government acceded to their demand to let the Malaysians negotiate with them yesterday.

Like you also said, the U.S. Embassy denounced the murder in the strongest possible terms and called for the safe immediate and unconditional release of the innocent persons being held -- Daryn.

KAGAN: What can you tell us about this group that is holding the hostages? And what kind of demands are they making?

LAZARO: Well, the Abu Sayyaf is the same rebel group that held more than 40 hostages last year. You will recall there was that Sipadan kidnapping somewhere in Malaysia and the hostages were taken to the same area, Basilan which is their stronghold. The hostages were eventually released only after payment of huge amounts of ransom money.

Now there main demand, which the government acceded to yesterday, was to have two Malaysian nationals negotiate with them. These nationals are known to have been part of the negotiating team last year and the result of that negotiation: ransom money was paid. The government has remained firm in their position that no ransom will be paid for the current innocent -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And where and how were these latest hostages taken?

LAZARO: Well, they were taken from an upscale resort -- some in Palawan, which is south of Manila. The upscale resort had them as guests. They were at the front of the -- front houses of the resort. They came by boat and they took the 20 hostages with them, including 17 Filipinos and the 3 Americans, one of which is Guillermo Sobero who is now believed to have been beheaded. But that, of course, has not been confirmed.

KAGAN: Yes, one more time -- once again about this report that Guillermo Sobero has been beheaded, do the -- are the hostage takers saying that they're going to give up his body or they're just trying to make demands or trying to show that they're serious about their demands in order to release other hostages?

LAZARO: Well, they have -- they have told the government to come and look for his corpse. And the military has told us that it may take a long time because this same incident happened last year and they're moving through very dense jungle area in Basilan. And last year it took them all of three weeks to accomplish this. So nobody in the military or in the government is confirming this claim made by the Abu Sayyaf.

KAGAN: Cecilia Lazaro, thank you for that latest information from the Philippines.

Well, back here in the U.S., as you can understand, Sobero's family is hoping for the best, trying not to believe the worst about this situation. Sobero lives in Corona, California, with his wife and four children.

Yesterday, family members gathered there. They're waiting for more information.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALBERTO SOBERO, BROTHER OF HOSTAGE: I'm hoping that I will not get that phone call. I still have hope that my brother is still alive. And I just want those people to think that they will be killing -- there'll be living children without a father and that's all I can say at this point. The clouds are very dark on the future of these children.

AIMEE SOBERO, DAUGHTER OF HOSTAGE: I don't know what to do. I mean how can I help out to get my -- to know if my dad's OK or not?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What'd you write in those letters? SOBERO: I wrote to please help us and to help us because there's nothing else we can do but ask to help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Sobero is a waterproofing contractor. He was born in Lima, Peru. He just recently became a U.S. citizen.

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