(13 Jun 2001)
Lantawan - 12 June
1. Lantawan shoreline
2. Various of armed soldiers on patrol boat
Manila - 13 June
3. Wide shot of Arroyo news conference
4. SOUNDBITE: (English/Tagalog) Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Philippines President
"No ransom, no deal, no ceasefire, no suspension of the military operations against the bandits. We know the enemy and we know their policy of terrorism".
Lantawan - 12 June
5. Various burnt houses in Lantawan
6. Various of residents of area
Zamboanga - 13 June
7. Wide shot South command military news conference
8. Cutaway of journalists
9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Col. Danilo Servando, Southcom army spokesman
"As of today the military has not recovered a body belonging to Mr. Sobero,and the reported beheading of Mr. Sobero as far as we're concerned is not yet confirmed, and we consider it as a bluff of Mr. Sabaya."
Lantawan - 12 June
10. Lantawan evacuees on truck
11. Wide shot of Tairan elementary school
12. SOUNDBITE: (Tagalog) Petra De la Santos, Lantawan Resident
"They said they needed guns, but the men were not there so they raided the houses and got the guns and burned the houses."
13. Wide shot of Petra De la Santos with granddaughter
Basilan - 13 June
14.Various of army soldiers on trucks in Basilan
STORYLINE:
The Philippines' president promised a "long and bloody war" against Muslim rebels who claim to have beheaded an American hostage, a claim questioned by the military.
"We will meet fire with fire, and more," Arroyo said at a nationally televised news conference. "No ransom. No deal. No cease-fire. No suspension of the military operations against the bandits", she added.
As President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo made her grim warning, the military said it found three Filipino bodies, including a Muslim cleric, in territory of the Abu Sayyaf.
The military claims neither of the bodies belonged to the American captive that the Abu Sayyaf claim to have beheaded.
Troops searching an area where Abu Sayyaf guerrillas were believed to be holding 28 hostages said they could not find any sign of Guillermo Sobero, the California resident the rebels said they killed on Tuesday.
Several hundred military reinforcements joined thousands of troops to hunt the rebels on the southern island of Basilan, and more were to arrive soon.
National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said, beside the torso found in the extreme west of the southern Basilan island, authorities found another beheaded body of a Filipino in the area late Tuesday.
He said one of the bodies, though in an area frequented by the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, was unrelated to the ongoing hostage crisis. He said the other was that of a freelance negotiator who contacted the rebels.
Troops found two beheaded bodies near where the rebels seized 15 people from a plantation on Monday.
While officials held out hope that rebel leader Abu Sabaya was bluffing about killing Sobero, they seemed increasingly concerned about the situation.
Police Senior Supt. Akmad Mamalinta said on Wednesday that 60 rebels were spotted near General Santos city earlier this week, 370 kilometres (230 miles) west of Basilan island.
He said the men, toting machine-guns, bought food from farmers before disappearing into the jungle.
Sabaya earlier this week threatened to send out units of fighters to attack several areas of the southern Mindanao region.
Mamalinta said a separate group of ten heavily armed men, three apparently wounded, were spotted by farmers in the area earlier.
Those raiders were pushed back under fire by resort security.
Nine escaped.
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