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Philippines gunmen release all hostages
Source: Agencies |
December 14, 2009, Monday
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GUNMEN yesterday freed the 47 hostages they were holding at a jungle hideout in the southern Philippines after government negotiators agreed not to arrest the outlaws for the abductions or past murder charges.
The remote jungle encampment had been surrounded by troops and snipers. Vice Governor Santiago Cane of Agusan del Sur province said the hostages left aboard two army trucks. The gunmen - former government-armed militiamen - then surrendered their assault rifles, grenades and ammunition.
"Declaring officially that all hostages are free. Yes, at last," Cane said.
Looking tired but relieved after three days in captivity, the mostly male hostages waved and smiled at journalists and army troops waiting at a nearby muddy village.
The hostage crisis began on Thursday when the gunmen, led by Joebert Perez, abducted more than 70 people from a village school and surrounding houses after police attempted to arrest him on a murder charge. Several schoolchildren and women were freed earlier, leaving 47 in captivity.
The crisis ended after Perez signed an agreement yesterday with government negotiators to free his hostages in exchange for a pledge that he and his men will not be arrested for either the abductions or past murder charges that arose from a violent land dispute with another clan.
Government negotiators, invoking a law that protects the rights of ethnic groups, agreed to Perez's demand to have his case handled by a tribal court. Police also promised to disarm his rivals, whom Perez has accused of killing some of his relatives over the land dispute.
The remote jungle encampment had been surrounded by troops and snipers. Vice Governor Santiago Cane of Agusan del Sur province said the hostages left aboard two army trucks. The gunmen - former government-armed militiamen - then surrendered their assault rifles, grenades and ammunition.
"Declaring officially that all hostages are free. Yes, at last," Cane said.
Looking tired but relieved after three days in captivity, the mostly male hostages waved and smiled at journalists and army troops waiting at a nearby muddy village.
The hostage crisis began on Thursday when the gunmen, led by Joebert Perez, abducted more than 70 people from a village school and surrounding houses after police attempted to arrest him on a murder charge. Several schoolchildren and women were freed earlier, leaving 47 in captivity.
The crisis ended after Perez signed an agreement yesterday with government negotiators to free his hostages in exchange for a pledge that he and his men will not be arrested for either the abductions or past murder charges that arose from a violent land dispute with another clan.
Government negotiators, invoking a law that protects the rights of ethnic groups, agreed to Perez's demand to have his case handled by a tribal court. Police also promised to disarm his rivals, whom Perez has accused of killing some of his relatives over the land dispute.
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