http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/news/3597483/detail.html
"Burnham Leaves Philippines After Testifying"
"Philippine President Praises Burnham's Courage, Determination"
POSTED: 12:23 pm CDT July 30, 2004
UPDATED: 12:44 pm CDT July 30, 2004
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "MANILA, Philippines -- An American missionary who returned to the Philippines to testify against the Muslim rebel captors who held her and her slain husband for more than a year said Friday she hoped her effort would help rid the country of terrorism.
Escorted by FBI agents, Gracia Burnham, 45, left Manila on a U.S.-bound flight a day after recounting in a court how her captors from the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group used to shackle her husband Martin before he was killed in a bloody June 2002 military rescue operation.
"How I would love to see your fair land free from terror," a smiling Burnham read from a prepared statement at the airport. "It is the wish of so many of us. ... That's why I returned to testify."
She said her testimony "was one thing I could do to make this country and this world a better place."
The Burnhams, of Rose Hill, Kan., and longtime Christian missionaries for the Florida-based New Tribes Mission, were celebrating their 18th wedding anniversary when they were abducted at a resort on western Palawan island on May 27, 2001, and taken by speedboat to southern Basilan island.
Also seized were Guillermo Sobero, of Corona, Calif., and 17 Filipino workers and tourists. Sobero was among several hostages beheaded."
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/FlashNewsStory.aspx?FlashOID=18930
Saturday, July 31, 2004 10:16 AM
"Arroyo thanks Gracia Burnham"
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Malacañang on Friday thanked American missionary Gracia Burnham who testified against her suspected former captors in an emotional return to the country.
"I admire Gracia Burnham’s courage and faith and her determination to bring terrorists to justice," Arroyo said in a statement.
The President added: "The trial of the Abu Sayyaf who abducted her and her husband is living proof of our determined fight against terror in partnership with all nations and peoples. Her testimony also upholds the integrity and uncommon valor of our Armed Forces, and I thank her for her concern for our people’s peace and security."
Burnham on Thursday testified before Presiding Judge Loriefel Pahimla of the Pasig City Regional Trial Court, where kidnapping charges were filed, during a special hearing at the National Capital Region Police headquarters in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig.
Burnham identified six arrested Abu Sayyaf bandits as the people who held her and her husband Martin for more than one year in Mindanao since they were kidnapped from the Dos Palmas island resort off Puerto Princesa City in Palawan on May 27, 2001."