House 125

By this time, I have observed that the only way for them to survive was to keep on moving.  Along the way, they happened to find two huts which were good enough for them to stay for a long time, but whenever they stopped to spend the night, the soldiers get to them the very next day.

On the second house they found, the firefight led to the death of three AFP soldiers.  They were all beheaded.  From these soldiers, the Abu Sayyaf found a medical bag which might be useful in the future.

But the most important 'loot' they found was a set of paperworks, which outlined all the military's plan against the Abu Sayyaf.  These paperworks was complete with a map that details all of the AFP's plans and the list of all the battalions that were deployed in connection with this effort.

They again continued 'mobiling,' the term that their captors used in moving around.  Again, they found a hut which Gracia came to call House 125.  The term, Gracia said, came from what remained of the census sticker she saw in front of the house.

House 125 is a typical hut.  It stands five foot off the ground because of the bamboo stilts that they were built onto.  It has two rooms but no electricity nor plumbing.  Between the ground and the house flooring should be the place to grow chickens and the pigs, but this time, it was a perfect 'room' for their captors.

It seemed to me that they would be staying here in House 125 for a while - at least longer than those two huts.  They were able to make sleeping arrangements at the order of the Abu Sayyaf - Martin and Gracia, being a married couple, is to sleep in the middle, thus, creating a divider between the men and women hostages.  This was done 'to preserve descency,' Gracia said, because the Muslims believe that men and women who are not married are not to sleep together.