Rebels agree to free hostages
Source: Agencies |
December 13, 2009, Sunday
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Print Edition
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TRIBAL gunmen holding 46 hostages in the southern Philippines have reached an agreement with negotiators and will free all those held in captivity, a government spokesman said yesterday.
Alfredo Plaza, a spokesman for the Agusal del Sur provincial government, said the hostages would be freed at 7am today and the gunmen would surrender.
"They have agreed," Plaza told reporters. "We are relieved this was resolved in a peaceful way."
Negotiators held discussions with the gunmen through the day yesterday, officials had earlier said. It was not immediately known what they will get in return for freeing the hostages.
The gunmen took 75 people captive from an elementary school and nearby homes in the lawless Mindanao region on Thursday, less than three weeks after a massacre in a nearby province, throwing an unwelcome spotlight on the Southeast Asian nation ahead of a presidential election next year.
The abductors have already freed 29 of the hostages.
Police had surrounded the area where the hostages were being held, in Agusan del Sur Province, but said they were giving negotiations a chance.
"We are optimistic that we can resolve this through negotiation," Senior Superintendent Nestor Fajura, operations chief of the regional police office, said yesterday.
"There is no threat on the lives of the hostages, they were fed and they freed one sick hostage," he told local radio.
"Our channels of communications are open."
The Mindanao region is full of bandits, guerrillas and Islamic rebels. Powerful local families maintain large private armies and feuding among them is common.
Last month, 57 people, including 30 journalists, were killed after they were stopped at a checkpoint in Maguindanao province, also in the southern Philippines, while on their way to file a candidate's nomination for elections next year.
The killings led to the imposition of martial law in Maguindanao last week.
The temporary military rule was withdrawn at 9pm last night after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo approved the lifting of the weeklong control.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said lifting martial law followed "accomplishments" by the police, military and the Justice Department in crippling the Ampatuan clan. He said 24 people, including clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr, have been charged with rebellion and 638 others have been referred to the Justice Department for investigation.
Alfredo Plaza, a spokesman for the Agusal del Sur provincial government, said the hostages would be freed at 7am today and the gunmen would surrender.
"They have agreed," Plaza told reporters. "We are relieved this was resolved in a peaceful way."
Negotiators held discussions with the gunmen through the day yesterday, officials had earlier said. It was not immediately known what they will get in return for freeing the hostages.
The gunmen took 75 people captive from an elementary school and nearby homes in the lawless Mindanao region on Thursday, less than three weeks after a massacre in a nearby province, throwing an unwelcome spotlight on the Southeast Asian nation ahead of a presidential election next year.
The abductors have already freed 29 of the hostages.
Police had surrounded the area where the hostages were being held, in Agusan del Sur Province, but said they were giving negotiations a chance.
"We are optimistic that we can resolve this through negotiation," Senior Superintendent Nestor Fajura, operations chief of the regional police office, said yesterday.
"There is no threat on the lives of the hostages, they were fed and they freed one sick hostage," he told local radio.
"Our channels of communications are open."
The Mindanao region is full of bandits, guerrillas and Islamic rebels. Powerful local families maintain large private armies and feuding among them is common.
Last month, 57 people, including 30 journalists, were killed after they were stopped at a checkpoint in Maguindanao province, also in the southern Philippines, while on their way to file a candidate's nomination for elections next year.
The killings led to the imposition of martial law in Maguindanao last week.
The temporary military rule was withdrawn at 9pm last night after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo approved the lifting of the weeklong control.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said lifting martial law followed "accomplishments" by the police, military and the Justice Department in crippling the Ampatuan clan. He said 24 people, including clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr, have been charged with rebellion and 638 others have been referred to the Justice Department for investigation.
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