The Only Way

The sat-phone broke.

It's a good thing there was a cellular phone that they could use to communicate with President Arroyo.  But of course, before this transpired, Martin was briefed of the complaints of the Abu Sayyaf.

Within the conversation, Martin pleaded for the AFP to stop the raids because it only puts the lives of the hostages on the line.  He made sure that it was known that only negotiations will stop all these.

"The Abu Sayyaf is going to survive this operation, but the hostages will not.  Eventually, the hostages are going to succumb to sickness, and eventually some of the hostages are going to be killed."

But that same day after the conversation, the firefight with the AFP and the Abu Sayyaf continued.  This is something that even the Abu Sayyaf people did not want and did not expect.