After their first night at House 125, the Abu Sayyaf people seemed confident that they will not be tracked down in their present location. There weren't any soldiers so far.
This is good because House 125 seemed perfect place for them to stay while they do their negotiations. It was near a village where they could get all the things they need and not very far from a river where they can do stuff that need water.
Here in this house was where they talked to ex-President Arroyo for the first time. I believe this is the first talk they had with the president. Previously, two of the hostages were ordered to talk to ex-President Arroyo to stop the firefight. But I didn't think there were any contacts between the Abu Sayyaf and the president before this time. On the sat-phone was Sabaya, the leader.
He asked ex-President Arroyo for one million dollars in exchange for the release of Martin Burnham and his wife Gracia. He also asked for the Malaysian citizen to be the mediator and not anyone else. If the Malaysian will not be the mediator, he will kill one of the three Americans they have in captivity - Martin, Gracia and Guillermo, who was a Filipino who just got his citizenship thirteen days before they were captured.
Gracia was totally shocked hearing this in the conversation. Not only because of the fact that one of them will be killed, but because she knows what the word 'kill' means to these people.
The Abu Sayyaf has a trademark procedure of taking someone else's life. It's not just a bullet in the chest, as Gracia said, nor a knife through your stomach. They are known to behead people.
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