Orlando, Fla. ? Martin Burnham, one of two American missionaries held hostage in the Philippines, is seriously ill and was seen being carried on a stretcher, Philippine media said Wednesday.

Col. Alexander Aleo, an army brigade commander, said civilian informants claimed to have seen Burnham on a stretcher carried by guerrillas Sunday near a remote Basilan town.

Burnham looked sick, Aleo quoted the informants as saying.

But a spokesman for New Tribes Mission, the Sanford-based organization to which Martin Burnham and his wife, Gracia, belong, immediately dismissed the report.

New Tribes sources confirm Martin Burnham, 42, is ill, but not seriously ill, spokesman Scott Ross said.

“Martin has a mild case of malaria, and is not being carried on a stretcher,” he said. “We believe it is not as serious as is being reported.”

Burnham’s family in Rose Hill, Kan., reacted similarly.

“We’ve heard reports of many different things, but we take all of them with a grain of salt,” said Martin Burnham’s father, Paul.

Martin and Gracia Burnham were captured a year ago by Abu Sayyaf, a group of Muslim extremists linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network.

Last week, unconfirmed reports circulated in the Philippine media that Gracia Burnham, 43, might be released because of her deteriorating health blamed on a persistent urinary-tract infection.

For the first time in weeks, a spokesman for the Abu Sayyaf made a public statement by calling the Radio Mindanao Network. But Abu Sabaya made no mention of the Burnhams or their condition.

Instead, he denied reports in the Philippine news media that his men are fighting over ransom supposedly paid by the Burnham family in March.