Tribesmen release 13 hostages in Philippines
Source: Agencies |
April 7, 2011, Thursday
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Print Edition
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ARMED tribesmen yesterday freed 13 hostages they had held for six days in a jungle hideout in the southern Philippines to demand the release of jailed relatives, but then managed to escape, officials said.
The stunned but unharmed hostages, mostly school teachers and a 10-year-old girl stricken with fever, were seized by five Manobo tribesmen on Friday in remote southeastern Agusan del Sur Province.
"I'm happy that nobody got hurt," President Benigno Aquino III said.
Aquino sent Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo and the national police chief to Agusan, 830 kilometers southeast of Manila, as the hostage standoff dragged on and attracted wide media coverage.
The hostage-takers, armed with an M16 rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, demanded the freedom of tribal leader Jobert "Ondo" Perez, who was jailed with three other tribesmen for taking 79 people captive in the same place in 2009 over a long-running clan feud.
Perez was briefly freed earlier in the week to help end the standoff and officials promised to take steps to speed up the resolution of his criminal cases. Three captives were freed, but the gunmen held on to the others as about 100 police and army special forces surrounded the hilly jungle area.
After sensing the presence of troops and fearing a possible assault, the gunmen early yesterday abandoned their remaining hostages, who walked down the hills and were secured by authorities, Robredo said.
Still looking bewildered from their jungle captivity, the hostages - wearing new white shirts - were later presented to journalists in Agusan's capital town of Prosperidad surrounded by beaming officials.
The stunned but unharmed hostages, mostly school teachers and a 10-year-old girl stricken with fever, were seized by five Manobo tribesmen on Friday in remote southeastern Agusan del Sur Province.
"I'm happy that nobody got hurt," President Benigno Aquino III said.
Aquino sent Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo and the national police chief to Agusan, 830 kilometers southeast of Manila, as the hostage standoff dragged on and attracted wide media coverage.
The hostage-takers, armed with an M16 rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, demanded the freedom of tribal leader Jobert "Ondo" Perez, who was jailed with three other tribesmen for taking 79 people captive in the same place in 2009 over a long-running clan feud.
Perez was briefly freed earlier in the week to help end the standoff and officials promised to take steps to speed up the resolution of his criminal cases. Three captives were freed, but the gunmen held on to the others as about 100 police and army special forces surrounded the hilly jungle area.
After sensing the presence of troops and fearing a possible assault, the gunmen early yesterday abandoned their remaining hostages, who walked down the hills and were secured by authorities, Robredo said.
Still looking bewildered from their jungle captivity, the hostages - wearing new white shirts - were later presented to journalists in Agusan's capital town of Prosperidad surrounded by beaming officials.
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