Скачать или смотреть President Arroyo on tour of southern islands

(12 Jun 2003)

1. Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo saluting, walking past honour guard
2. Press
3. Arroyo shaking hands with Zamboanga local officials
4. Wide of Edwin Andrews Airbase
5. Arroyo shaking hands with Zamboanga students
6. Set up shot of Armed Forces Chief of Staff Narciso Abaya
7. SOUNDBITE (English) General Narciso Abaya, Chief of Staff, Philippines Armed Forces
"Again it's a welcome development, but earlier if you recall, we have even offered that why go for a ten-day ceasefire if they can go for a permanent ceasefire so that we can settle this peacefully with finality."
8. Arroyo shaking hands with Rolando Ulah, released hostage
9. Close-up of Ulah
10. Officials
11. Arroyo shaking hands with Ulah's wife
12. Ulah and wife, zoom out as Ulah shakes hands with Arroyo

STORYLINE:

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo arrived in Zamboanga on Thursday, where she will mark the country's 105th anniversary of independence from Spanish colonial rule.

The visit comes a day after the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels announced, hours before a ten-day cease-fire was to end, that they were extending the truce another ten days at the request of neighbouring Malaysia, which has been trying to broker a peace deal to end the decades-old separatist insurgency.

The intermittent talks in Kuala Lumpur stalled in March following a spate of deadly bombings in the southern Philippines that the government blamed on "terrorists" within the MILF, and demanded the group turn them in.

The rebels denied involvement, then declared a unilateral truce as a sign of good faith.

In a statement at a Philippine Independence Day reception for diplomats on the presidential yacht, Arroyo thanked the Malaysian government for its help in bringing peace to the trouble southern Mindanao region and welcomed the rebels' decision "to further silence the guns."

Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Narcisco Abaya also welcomed the MILF's decision to extend the ceasefire but adds that a permanent solution to the dispute will be better.

After the reception for diplomats, President Arroyo met Roland Ulah, the longest-held hostage by the Muslim extremist group, Abu Sayyaf.

Ulah escaped last week after more than three years in captivity, following a gunbattle between Philippine marines and his captors outside Patikul town on southern Jolo island.

Ulah, a Filipino, was seized in April 2000 when Abu Sayyaf rebels raided the Malaysian resort of Sipadan, where he worked as a handyman, refilling scuba tanks, running errands and cooking food.

Also abducted were a South African couple, three Germans, three French, two Finns, nine Malaysian resort workers and another Filipino worker.

They were all released after several months in exchange for millions of dollars, reportedly paid by Libya.

It was unclear why the guerrillas held onto Ulah.

One account said a rebel faction which did not get a share of the ransom seized him from the guerrillas who raided Sipadan.

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