Almost a year after Muslim rebels kidnapped Martin and Gracia Burnham from a Philippine resort, there’s no end in sight for the missionaries’ release “unless something pretty dramatic happens,” reports their mission’s spokesman.
“We would never have believed we would be here a year later, not in our wildest expectation,” said New Tribes Mission’s (NTM) Scott Ross regarding the hostage crisis that began May 27, 2001.
The Burnhams’ release has become even more complicated with news — confirmed to Compass Direct news service by Martin Burnham’s mother Oreta — that a deal for a third party to pay ransom for the couple had fallen through.
One year ago, some 20 guerrillas of the Abu Sayyaf Islamic separatist group snatched the couple and 18 others from Dos Palmas Resort on the Philippine island of Palawan. A week later, the rebels raided a hospital and took more hostages.
Abu Sayyaf rebels fled with their hostages by boat to the nearby island of Basilan. Only the Burnhams and Filipina nurse Deborah Yap remain as hostages.
Life on the run
Life is difficult for the captives as they are constantly on the run. The other hostages have either escaped or paid ransoms for their release. Reports that the Abu Sayyaf had negotiated payment for the Burnhams’ freedom has raised tensions.
“New Tribes Mission wasn’t part of a ransom deal, and we reiterate our position that paying ransom is against NTM’s policy,” Ross said. NTM issued a statement April 25 that the mission was not consulted about this agreement and that NTM was not aware the family members were involved in a deal until they revealed it to mission representatives in confidence on April 20.
In late April, Ross went to see Martin Burnham’s parents, Paul and Oreta Burnham, and children Jeffrey, 14; Mindy, 12; and Zach, 11, in Wichita, Kan. The grandparents, who were also NTM missionaries in the Philippines, are raising the children.
Asked how the children are coping with their parents’ plight, Ross said, “They’re strong and very much wanted their parents home at Easter and were very disappointed when they weren’t,” he said. Jeffrey didn’t want to go anywhere for spring break because he hoped his parents might be freed and didn’t want to miss it, Ross said.
The Burnham children are active in school, church and sports. “The grandparents are trying to keep life as normal as possible for the kids in an abnormal situation,” Ross said.
But normal is Gracia Burnham homeschooling them in the family’s home in a rural Philippine community. The couple worked there in a support ministry for New Tribes Mission. Martin Burnham is a pilot.
“It’s been amazing to us that it’s been this long because they’ve almost gone through a school year,” Oreta Burnham said. “We never thought it would go this long.”
But the family hasn’t lost faith that their loved ones ultimately will be released unharmed. “We still feel like the Lord’s in control,” she said. “Why He has allowed this to go on for this long, we don’t know. But I don’t think it’s for us to question what He has allowed.
“I’m sure that He has a plan for all of this. … So we have to just trust Him in this.”
Concerning their living conditions, Ross said, “We believe the food situation has improved a little. Some of our information is telling us they are in a location where food is a little more naturally prevalent.”
While food is not getting in from the outside, the area of Basilan where the couple is believed to be held has coconuts and other foods.
“Before, it was just green bananas and cassava,” he said. “We believe their health and well-being has improved a little, to subsistence rather than starving.”
Mission officials believe the couple is somewhat safer from a military engagement. “But there’s nothing to tell us he’s not bound to a rebel by day and chained to a tree at night,” Ross said.
Still, officials are frustrated that the couple’s captors haven’t been apprehended, given that 7,000 Philippine army troops supposedly have the guerrillas cornered on a small island.
“We do believe they’re alive,” Ross said. “We’ve been convinced they’re alive all along. We’re concerned for their safety. They could still die from exposure or from a military engagement.”
Reports a few weeks ago that the Burnhams had been separated came “from a tremendous amount of misinformation,” Ross said. “It could be information leaked by the ASG [Abu Sayyaf Group] to make the military think that military action is not possible. We believe they’ve always been on an island, have always been together and they are together now.”
Concerning recent terrorism for which Abu Sayyaf claimed responsibility, “We see a little saber-
rattling with a couple of bombs,” Ross said. “I think they’re trying to let the people of the Philippines know that they can do things anywhere in the Philippines. They’re trying to make a statement.”
Until the Burnhams’ plight is resolved, the family remains in limbo. Asked whether she and her husband might return to their ministry in the Philippines with their grandchildren even before her son and daughter-in-law are released, Oreta Burnham said, “I couldn’t answer that. It’s a day-by-day thing. We take things as they come.”
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