Three Americans, including a Protestant missionary couple, were among 20 people abducted from a westernPhilippines island resort early today, the military said.
Unknown gunmen raided the Dos Palmas resort in the islet of Arriceffi off Palawan island at dawn and seized 16 hotel guests andfour Filipino resort staff, military officials said.
The armed forces released a list of the victims including threepeople it described as "Americans" - Mr Martin Burnham, Ms Gracia Burnham, and Mr Guillermo Sobero.
Military intelligence sources had earlier said Mr Sobero was aSpaniard, but a Spanish source in Manila ruled out the involvement of that country's nationals.
"The Burnhams are missionaries from a sect called the New Tribes Mission", resort officials said.
President Gloria Arroyo's National Security Adviser Mr Roilo Golezsaid the boat bearing the kidnappers and their hostages was headingsouthwest and was now "very close to the Malaysian boundary".
He said they have asked for help from Kuala Lumpur's navy. Theboat has been spotted and "we only need navy ships to interceptthem".
Armed forces chief of staff General Diomedio Villanueva said itwas still too early to say whether the attackers were members of the Abu Sayyaf, a self-styled Islamic guerrilla force which went on a kidnapping spree in the southern Philippines and Malaysia lastyear.
AFP