U.S. soldiers arrive on island base of Philippine rebels

Friday, February 15th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AP) _ American soldiers flew to troubled Basilan Island in assault helicopters Friday before a special forces contingent begins training Filipino troops in fighting Muslim extremists.

The 21 support staffers took rockets and other weapons, communications equipment, bedding and two all-terrain motorcycles to an army camp in the capital, Isabela, that is a staging ground for the government's assault against Abu Sayyaf guerrillas holding a Kansas couple and a Philippine nurse hostage.

Philippine military officials said 32 of 160 U.S. special forces soldiers will arrive Sunday, ushering in a more dangerous phase of the six-month maneuvers called Balikatan, or ``shoulder to shoulder.''

The other special forces members will arrive in two groups next week.

The Americans arriving Friday mapped out security with Filipino military and police, said Brig. Gen. Emmanuel Teodosio, Philippine director for the military exercise.

As the soldiers unloaded crates from one MH-47 Chinook helicopter, another helicopter hovered around the seaside army camp in Tabiawan village. One soldier kept a grip on his rifle while struggling to move a crate with one hand.

``We should take into context that they're strangers there. They're edgy,'' Teodosio said.

U.S. Charge d'Affaires Robert Fitts said the special forces initially will stay in the main army camp but could travel, in a month or so, to several smaller bases staffed by 80-man companies at least a mile from any likely clash.

Later, they would observe Filipinos at even smaller bases, still out of combat but with increased risk, Fitts said.

The U.S. soldiers will be armed but can fire only in self-defense.

About 500 more American troops will stay in Zamboanga city, near Basilan, and at an air base further north for logistical support.

The U.S. military deployment in the Philippines is the second biggest after Afghanistan under the U.S.-led global anti-terrorism campaign. Officials stress U.S. soldiers will teach and not wage war in this former American colony.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's decision to allow Americans near combat zones has sparked small, daily protests and a Supreme Court lawsuit aiming to halt the exercise on grounds it would violate constitutional limits on the presence of foreign troops.

In an incident that stoked the opposition, two American soldiers in civilian clothes brandished assault rifles while accompanying a colleague who went to a bank in Zamboanga's crowded downtown. Philippine officials protested and their American counterparts apologized, officials said.

On Friday, one of the huge U.S. MH-47 choppers flew low over a Zamboanga air base, its wind surge ripping the roof off a wooden military outpost, witnesses said. No one was hurt.

``The pilots to my knowledge have never flown in this area so it takes time to gear up,'' said U.S. Sgt. Michael Farris, a troops spokesman.

Many people in the country's poor and violence-weary south support the American presence largely because of widespread indignation over Abu Sayyaf crimes.

The rebels, linked in the past to the Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network, are notorious for kidnappings and beheadings, including that of a California man. They still hold Wichita, Kan., missionaries Gracia and Martin Burnham and Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap.

Those hostages are the last of scores taken in a kidnapping wave that began in May. Guillermo Sobero of Corona, Calif., was among several captives killed by the rebels. Others were freed, reportedly in exchange for huge ransoms.

Also Friday, Philippine officials rejected a reported offer by a son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to negotiate the hostages' release if asked by the united States.

Military Chief of Staff Gen. Diomedio Villanueva told DZRH radio he would rather continue military operations against the rebels. ``Any negotiations that are marked by under-the-table deals, like money and everything, I think we should not agree with. It will return to us in the form of bullets and firearms,'' Villanueva said.