Election Section

MANILA, Philippines — In the face of a last-ditch military offensive, Muslim rebels retreated from their threat to kill an American hostage Thursday and send his head to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as a birthday present. 

Just minutes before the threatened execution, Carol Schilling was hooked up on live radio with the Abu Sayyaf guerrilla group that has held her 25-year-old son, Jeffrey, since last August. 

Carol Schilling, a YMCA accountant from Oakland, had been told twice before that her son’s execution was imminent. 

But this threat had been the most specific – beheading at 5 p.m. Thursday, Arroyo’s 54th birthday. Similarly, two Filipino school teachers held by the group were killed last April to mark then-President Joseph Estrada’s birthday. 

Fearing the worst, Carol Schilling flew to Manila for the first time. 

Just before the deadline, the Radio Mindanao Network got through to Abu Sabaya, a rebel spokesman who spoke on a satellite phone from the remote jungles of Jolo island in the southern Philippines. 

Carol Schilling wasn’t sure she heard correctly when Abu Sabaya said over the crackling connection that the beheading was off – for now. 

“The execution has been suspended already,” Sabaya repeated. “If you want to solve this problem just call (Arroyo) to back off the military operations, otherwise we might be provoked to execute Jeffrey Schilling.” 

After a brief pause, the pragmatic-sounding Mrs. Schilling said: “I’m helpless in the ways of government but I will do whatever I can.” 

Carol Schilling, 51, used the next few minutes of their shaky connection to read off names and phone numbers of government officials, pleading with Sabaya to phone them in an effort to negotiate. 

Both the Philippine and U.S. governments expressed thanks that Schilling had been spared, but reiterated their refusal to pay ransom for hostages. Abu Sayyaf, thought to number about 1,200, has sought $10 million for Schilling. 

“This was the right decision,” a U.S. Embassy statement said. “We urge (Schilling’s) prompt release so he can go home with his mother and be with his family.” 

Earlier in the day, Carol Schilling went on radio and TV to plead for her only son’s release, as did his tearful Filipino bride, Ivy Osana.  

She had taken Schilling to meet Sabaya – her cousin – who then refused to let the Muslim convert leave. 

“We call him our gentle giant, and we want his great big bear hug,” Carol Schilling said on radio. 

At the same time, the government was on the offensive, pouring helicopter gunships, armed personnel carriers and troops into Jolo, a volcanic island, to search for guerrilla hide-outs. 

The rebel group, which claims to seek an independent Muslim homeland in the southern Philippines, became famous last year after seizing dozens of hostages, many of them foreigners, in daring raids.  

Most were released, reportedly for multimillion-dollar ransoms negotiated by Libyan officials. Only Schilling and a Filipino dive resort worker remain in captivity. 

Although her fledgling government is in the process of setting up peace talks with communist rebels and another Muslim rebel group, Arroyo ordered “all-out war” against Abu Sayyaf on Monday when they threatened to behead Schilling as her “birthday gift.”