In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “hostage crisis in the southern philippines that began with the seizing of twenty hostages from an upscale islan”. Today it says “hostage crisis in southern philippines that began with the seizing of twenty hostages from the affluent dos pal”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-02. In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “hostage crisis in the southern philippines that began with the seizing of twenty hostages from an upscale islan”. Today it says “hostage crisis in southern philippines that began with the seizing of twenty hostages from the affluent dos pal”.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
Dos Palmas kidnappings was a hostage crisis in southern Philippines that began with the seizing of twenty hostages from the affluent Dos Palmas Resort on a private island in Honda Bay , Palawan , by members of Abu Sayyaf jihadist group on May 27, 2001, and resulted in the deaths of at least five of the original hostages. Three of the original hostages were American citizens , Guillermo Sobero, and a married missionary couple, Martin and Gracia Burnham. At least 22 Filipino soldiers were killed in attempts to apprehend the captors and free the hostages in the 12 months following the initial hostage taking. An unknown number of captors were killed by government forces. During the crisis, the number of people taken captive varied greatly as more hostages were seized in numerous raids on the island of Basilan ; therefore, the total number of people taken prisoner has been impossible to determine. However, news reports suggested at least 100 hostages were taken and around 20 murdered in just over a year up until the final assault and freeing of Gracia Burnham on June 7, 2002. Even some local and foreign journalists covering the high-profile kidnappings were themselves held captive for some time.
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1257698377.
The opening as it stood in 2010
The Dos Palmas kidnappings was a hostage crisis in the southern Philippines that began with the seizing of twenty hostages from an upscale island resort on Palawan by Abu Sayyaf members on the 27th of May, 2001, and resulted in the deaths of at least 5 of the original hostages, including the two American citizens Guillermo Sobero and Martin Burnham. At least 22 soldiers were killed in attempts to apprehend the captors and free the hostages in the 12 months following the initial hostage taking. A unknown number of captors died also.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 363652113.
The opening as it stood in 2015 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
The Dos Palmas kidnappings was a hostage crisis in the southern Philippines that began with the seizing of twenty hostages from the affluent Dos Palmas Resort on a private island in the Honda Bay , Palawan , by members of Abu Sayyaf on May 27, 2001 and resulted in the deaths of at least five of the original hostages, including the two American citizens , Guillermo Sobero and Martin Burnham. At least 22 Filipino soldiers were killed in attempts to apprehend the captors and free the hostages in the 12 months following the initial hostage taking. An unknown number of captors were killed by government forces.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 656088573.
The opening as it stood in 2020
The Dos Palmas kidnappings was a hostage crisis in the southern Philippines that began with the seizing of twenty hostages from the affluent Dos Palmas Resort on a private island in the Honda Bay , Palawan , by members of Abu Sayyaf on May 27, 2001 and resulted in the deaths of at least five of the original hostages, including two American citizens , Guillermo Sobero and Martin Burnham. At least 22 Filipino soldiers were killed in attempts to apprehend the captors and free the hostages in the 12 months following the initial hostage taking. An unknown number of captors were killed by government forces.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 959098143.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Hostage crisis in southern Philippines The Dos Palmas kidnappings was a hostage crisis in southern Philippines that began with the seizing of twenty hostages from the affluent Dos Palmas Resort on a private island in Honda Bay , Palawan , by members of Abu Sayyaf on May 27, 2001, and resulted in the deaths of at least five of the original hostages. Three of these hostages were American citizens , Guillermo Sobero, and a married missionary couple, Gracia and Martin Burnham. At least 22 Filipino soldiers were killed in attempts to apprehend the captors and free the hostages in the 12 months following the initial hostage taking. An unknown number of captors were killed by government forces.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1158613336.
Today
In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “hostage crisis in the southern philippines that began with the seizing of twenty hostages from an upscale islan”. Today it says “hostage crisis in southern philippines that began with the seizing of twenty hostages from the affluent dos pal”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
jihad
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hostage
5
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Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined between 2010 and 2025.
Then
hostage crisis in the southern philippines that began with the seizing of twenty hostages from an upscale islan
Now
hostage crisis in southern philippines that began with the seizing of twenty hostages from the affluent dos pal
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
