By
The Associated Press
MANILA, Philippines - An American rescued by the Philippine military after nearly eight months as a hostage left for home yesterday, saying he wanted his Muslim rebel captors destroyed.
Jeffrey Schilling, 25, of Oakland, Calif., casually walked into Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport with American security escorts and boarded a flight to Guam.
Looking relaxed, he ignored reporters' questions before passing through security, where he turned back and gave a brief statement thanking President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and defense chief Angelo Reyes for working to liberate him from the Abu Sayyaf rebel group.
"I'd like them to continue the efforts against the Abu Sayyaf," Schilling said. "There are groups which can and will be destroyed as long as the operations continue."
Army troops found Schilling barefoot and covered with mosquito bites when they rescued him Thursday from southern Jolo Island. He had been held in the jungle since August after visiting the rebel camp with his wife, whose cousin is an Abu Sayyaf spokesman. His wife, Ivy Osani, was allowed to leave, but Schilling was detained.
Schilling, who weighed 250 pounds before being taken hostage, said he lost 100 pounds while in captivity.
After being freed, he was taken Friday to the northern mountain resort city of Baguio to meet Arroyo, who was on vacation there. Schilling also was debriefed in Manila by U.S. and Philippine authorities, U.S. Embassy spokesman Michael Anderson said.
He denied reports that he had joined his captors, Anderson said. Civilians on Jolo had reported seeing him on patrol with guerrillas and carrying a rifle, but Schilling said he was told to carry a weapon for appearances.
Philippine authorities are convinced Schilling was an unwilling hostage, said Gen. Diomedio Villanueva, armed forces chief of staff.
Schilling was among scores of foreigners the Abu Sayyaf - the smallest of the Philippines' three major insurgencies - took hostage last year.
After the Abu Sayyaf threatened to behead Schilling as an April 5 birthday gift to Arroyo, she ordered an "all-out war" on the group.
Yesterday, Arroyo again warned that she would not negotiate with the Abu Sayyaf and others who refused to lay down their arms.
"They better beware. There will be no peace table for them," Arroyo said. "The only peace for them is the peace of the graveyard."
Abu Sayyaf rebels say they are fighting for Islamic independence in the southern Philippines, but Arroyo called them a "kidnap-for-ransom gang."
She has sought peace talks with another Muslim rebel group, the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front, along with communist rebels who have been waging a Marxist rebellion nationwide for more than three decades.
