Philippine hostage crisis ends with all abductees released
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A group of tribal armed men on Sunday surrendered themselves to the authorities and freed more than 40 civilians detained at a hilly hide-out in the southern Philippines, ending the 4-day hostage crisis peacefully.
Forty-six relieved-looking hostages -- mostly impoverished villagers -- were fetched by a government convoy from the mountains to the small village of San Martin, Agusan del Sur late Sunday. They were immediately sent to a local hospital for check- up as some were running a low fever due to the harsh conditions of captivity.
A hostage named Nelson told Xinhua that they had to rough it out in small huts for the cold and rainy nights. No towels, blankets or mats were in sight when rain poured down.
"We were left like this, we had no choice," said Nelson, father to four children ranging from 6 to 9 months.
About 400 soldiers and police officers had earlier surrounded the area but the authorities did not order a military rescue. Government officials visited the hilly hide-out from time to time to negotiate with the armed men.
Santiago Cane, a vice governor of Agusan del Sur province, said the government secured the hostages' release after signing an agreement with Joebert "Ondo" Perez, the leader of the 19 armed hostage takers.
"The group of Perez surrendered their weapons and ammunition. I received all of them at their lair," Cane told reporters.
Cane said as agreed the government would not file charges against Perez and his cohorts. They will be turned over to the Archdiocese of Butuan rather than to the police custody.
Perez led the armed group to raid San Martin and a community elementary school on Thursday morning, taking away 75 civilians, including teachers and pupils to protest the police arrest warrants against him.
Twenty-eight hostages, including all the children, were freed in the first two days, through negotiation. But Perez insisted the government drop murder charges filed by his rival tribe against him in exchange for the freedom of the remaining hostages.
Perez, a former government militiaman, said the charges were unfair and urged the government to investigate the alleged murder cases on the hands of his rivaling Tubay tribe.
Cane said the government agreed to transfer Perez's cases to the tribal council for review and promised to disarm the Tubay tribe.
The hostage drama occurred amid an outburst of violence in the volatile Mindanao region over the past few weeks. On Nov. 23, 57 civilians on an election caravan were abducted and brutally killed, suspectedly by armed men loyal to a local politician. It is the worst case of election-related killings in the country.
Separately, Al Qaeda-linked militants in Basilan province beheaded one of its hostages while abducting another college principal in early December. The province also experienced a bloody jailbreak on Sunday. Thirty-one inmates escaped and one jail guard was killed.
