USA: FAMILY MEMBERS OF AMERICAN TOURIST GUILLERMO SOBERO, KIDNAPPED IN PHILIPPINES STILL HOLD OUT HOPE DESPITE REPORTS CONFIRMING HIS DEATH

Record ID: 244521

  • Title: USA: FAMILY MEMBERS OF AMERICAN TOURIST GUILLERMO SOBERO, KIDNAPPED IN PHILIPPINES STILL HOLD OUT HOPE DESPITE REPORTS CONFIRMING HIS DEATH
  • Date: 19th June 2001
  • Summary: CATHEDRAL CITY, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) 1. SLV EXTERIOR HOME OF PARENTS AND BROTHER OF GUILLERMO SOBERO, AMERICAN TOURIST KIDNAPPED IN THE PHILIPPINES AND NOW BELIEVED DEAD (3 SHOTS) 0.20 CATHEDRAL CITY, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JUNE 18, 2001) (REUTERS) 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ALBERTO SOBERO, BROTHER OF GUILLERMO S
  • Embargoed: 4th July 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CATHEDRAL CITY, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA212XMMRJTKBG2DA9P92MPEN39
  • Story Text: Family members of an American tourist kidnapped in the
    Philippines were still holding out hope on Monday (June 18)
    that he was alive even after official reports had confirmed
    his death.

    The Philippine military said it believed Muslim gunmen
    had killed a 40-year-old American hostage after tying his
    hands behind his back and leading him away from his fellow
    captives.

    But while a military spokesman said he had strong reason
    to believe that the self-styled Abu Sayyaf rebels had executed
    Guillermo Sobero, a tourist from Corona, California, his body
    had still not been found.

    His brother Alberto still voiced slim hope. "There's that
    likelihood (that his brother is still alive) even though we're
    now geared to assume the worst," he told Reuters. "In the back
    of your head that always comes up: 'What if he's just alive,
    what if he's still there,' and it's a very cruel game if that
    is the only thing he's doing but we want answers," he continued.

    With his brother Guillermo's daughter Amy by his side,
    Alberto spoke of the impact the conflicting news stories out
    of the Philippines were having on his family. They are
    "devastated at this point. I can't even begin to tell you the
    suffering my mother is going through," he said. "And that's
    just the tip of the iceberg. If we start considering the
    possibility that my brother has passed, he has been murdered,
    the future of four children is now up in the air. There are
    four children who did not deserve their father to be killed in
    this way and it's looking pretty grim at this point."
    Guillermo had four children with his wife Fanny, from whom he
    is estranged. Their eldest daughter Amy expressed hopes of her
    father's survival while remaining realistic. "I'm trying to
    give a strong front but if things don't start getting better,
    or if we don't start getting any answers, I don't know what
    I'm going to do, because all I want is for my daddy to come
    back home alive."
    The U.S. Embassy in Manila said it had no independent
    confirmation that Sobero was dead.

    "We have no proof of Mr Sobero's fate. No
    remains have been identified as his. No independent
    source witnessed his claimed execution," the Embassy
    said in a statement. "That said, we remain gravely
    concerned about Mr Sobero's fate in view of the
    repeated claims by the Abu Sayyaf to have beheaded him."
    Alberto Sobero voiced his frustration with the slowness
    of the US government's involvement in the case. "They may be
    having difficulties in identifying the remains but it's been a
    week since Sabaya (rebel leader) claimed he had done this to
    my brother and a week has passed, they have found remains, and
    yet there is no confirmation, I think, they need to do what
    needs to be done, they should expedite the process and get it
    solved," he said.
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