Posted on 04/20/2003 5:55:07 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
ZAMBOANGA - Two female Christian preachers who have just escaped from the Abu Sayyaf band said yesterday they are afraid that the group would go after their families in revenge.
One of the two recounted how she witnessed her husband being beheaded by the Abu Sayyaf, which has been linked by Washington and Manila to Al-Qaeda.
Ms Cleofe Mantulo, 49, and Ms Emily Mantic, 28, were taken by the military to Zamboanga from the island of Jolo, where the Abu Sayyaf seized them along with two other women and two men, all Jehovah's Witnesses, in August.
The two slipped away late on Friday while their captors were in a firefight with the military but two other women, Ms Flora Mantulo and Ms Norie Bendijo, are still in the hands of the bandits. The two men, including Ms Mantic's husband, were beheaded soon after their abduction.
'We are afraid (the Abu Sayyaf) will kill our families. They took down our addresses and what will they do to our children?' a frightened Ms Mantic told reporters.
She said the Abu Sayyaf had threatened to pursue them even in their homes if they escaped.
Ms Mantulo was barely able to speak and only sobbed as her friend spoke.
Brigadier-General Romeo Tolentino, head of the task force pursuing the Abu Sayyaf, assured them that the kidnappers had not escaped the Jolo area and that their families were being protected.
Ms Mantic also recounted the beheading of her husband, telling of how the Abu Sayyaf repeatedly hacked away at the two men with machetes.
'They were really helpless,' she said. 'I missed my son who lost his father. What happens now to us?'
Weeping on her relatives' shoulders, she said that the captivity was a brutal experience. They were constantly forced to move to escape government pursuers and had very little to eat.
Meanwhile, in other incidents in southern Philippines, 13 Muslim guerillas, six Muslim farmers and a Christian man were slain.
A military spokesman said about 100 Moro Islamic Liberation Front fighters attacked an army detachment in M'lang town in Mindanao. Soldiers used artillery fire to drive them off. The day after, 13 dead guerillas were found.
That's laying it on the line alright, but to lead people away from the Lord. I am sorry though for their experience with the muslims.
I can't say that I look forward to the local Jehovah's Witnesses paying a visit to my front door every month.
However, since they are sincere enough in their beliefs to lay down their lives to serve God, as they truly believe God wants them to serve Him, I don't believe that God will quibble too much about "the definition of Christians" when Judgement Day comes around.
They obviously love God and they are trying their best to glorify Him to the best of their understanding of Him.
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