‘Please let my daughter go!’

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY — As President Arroyo descended the makeshift stage in front of the provincial capitol Monday afternoon, a 58-year-old woman approached her timidly, and as the President shook her hand, she said she was the mother of Marife Rosadeno.

Mrs. Arroyo merely smiled, perhaps the words the woman was uttering not having an impact at the moment. The President, who had flown in from Zamboanga and Basilan and just finished a 30-minute speech here before the rains began to pour, was rushing to the airport for her flight back to Manila before nightfall.

Virginia Rosadeno had hoped that the President would help secure the release of her daughter, Marife, one of the 20 hostages seized by Abu Sayyaf bandits at the Dos Palmas resort in Arrecife Island, some 45 minutes away from Puerto Princesa, May 27.

Marife is the girlfriend of American hostage Guillermo Sobero. She was with him when the Abu Sayyaf bandits broke into their cottages, one of several picturesquely jutting out in the sea, at dawn.

The last time the mother, Virginia, saw Marife was two days earlier, when they met Sobero, who had flown in from California, at the Puerto Princesa airport. That night, Virginia’s husband joined them for dinner at the Asturias hotel. The next day, Guillermo and Marife left for Dos Palmas. On the 27th, the elder Rosadenos went home to Brooke’s Point, about six hours from Puerto Princesa by bus. "Hardly had I gotten settled in my house than a neighbor came running to say that she heard on the radio that hostages were taken by the Abu Sayyaf," Virginia said. "My neighbor asked, wasn’t my daughter’s boyfriend staying at the Dos Palmas too?"

Virginia left for this lush and green city, staying here with another daughter in Barangay Dagomboy. It’s been 22 days since her daughter and boyfriend had been taken captive. She has gone to the Wescom commander, Alex Asion, for word on their safety. But the commander said he did not know. Reacting to the news that the government was staging an all-out war against the Abus, she told a reporter in a taped interview to be sent to Mrs. Arroyo "to please remember that my daughter is among the captives."

In an interview with writers from Manila the other night, Virginia spoke about Marife as "a Mormon, a most gentle and loving girl." She is the youngest of her ten children. She finished the hotel and restaurant management course at the Palawan State University, worked briefly at the SM department store behind the Manila City Hall, and last year, was employed at Dos Palmas, where she met Sobero, an American tourist, last November.

They wrote each other regularly, and at the dinner with her parents May 25, he told them he loved their daughter and that they would get married as soon as his divorce from his wife became final; his wife, in fact, was already living with another man, he said. He has four children, and the eldest, a teen-aged girl, is in his custody. He said he and Marife were going to Brooke’s Point on May 29, his birthday.

Sobero turned 40 on the 29th, somewhere in the mountains of Basilan – instead of at Brooke’s Point. Marife herself turned 21 on June 12, in captivity.

Virginia said Sobero was going to have them live in the United States after he and Marife got married this December. That made Virginia happy; that would mean a great life for her and her husband, who supported his family from fishing; she herself sold fish. Two of their children finished college – Randy, a Methodist minister, and Marife – both of whom are the only unmarried ones. One of the daughters used to work in Malaysia as a domestic helper. There she met and married a Chinese; they now live with one child in Beijing. From their eight married children, the Rosadenos have 26 grandchildren.

Virginia recalled that Guillermo said he and Marife were going to the El Nido resort in Coron. But her husband said they should stay at Dos Palmas, which is closer to Puerto Princesa. "My husband keeps regretting his suggestion. If Marife and Guillermo had gone to El Nido, they would still be around. Now my husband keeps saying that if something happened to them, he would drown himself in the sea."

The Rosadenos have not received any note that the Abus are asking for ransom for their daughter. "We’re very poor," said Virginia. "We’re praying no end for Marife’s release. We’re asking her captors to spare her. She has many dreams. Please, let her go."