IS RELEASE IMMINENT FOR AMERICAN MISSIONARY HOSTAGES IN THE PHILIPPINES?
Mission Officials Balance Hope with Realism and Experience in the Burnham’s Case by Deann Alford SANFORD, Florida (Compass) — It was hoped that American missionary hostages Martin and Gracia Burnham were within days of gaining freedom from their radical Muslim captors in the southern Philippines, officials with the couple’s sending agency said on March 16. But New Tribes Mission (NTM) leaders remember five NTM hostages held in Colombia in the 1990s. None of the five survived, and the Burnhams have yet to see freedom. “We have been down this road many times already in this kidnapping, so there is a high level of excitement but also an experience of disappointment when things do not materialize,” said NTM spokesman Scott Ross. “[But] we’re optimistic and believe [the Burnhams] are going to be released. It could happen any time.” Ross declined to elaborate, citing the possibility of further endangering the missionaries. The Burnhams were celebrating their 18th wedding anniversary when th
