TRIBAL MANOBO KIDNAPERS RELEASE ALL 13 HOSTAGES
LA PROSPERIDAD, AGUSAN DEL SUR, APRIL 7, 2011 (MANILA TIMES)- Members of the negotiating panel seated) present to the media the hostages (in white shirts) who were freed by gun-wielding tribesmen in Agusan del Sur on Wednesday. AFP PHOTO.
TRIBAL gunmen have freed 13 hostages they were holding in a remote jungle area for four days in southern Philippines, the government said on Wednesday.
Negotiators convinced the near-illiterate gunmen from the forest-dwelling Manobo tribe on Tuesday to let the group of 11 teachers, a student and a driver go in exchange for the fair treatment of a relative jailed for kidnap, according to a government statement.
"We are happy to announce at that at six o'clock this morning, all of the 13 hostages had been recovered and are already safe with us. Our troops found the hostages abandoned by their captors," the statement said.
[SOLDIERS TALK TO MOTORCYCLE DRIVER AT VILLAGE CHECKPOINT IN AGUSAN DEL SUR]
It was read out by Alvin Magdamit, the mayor of La Prosperidad town of Agusan del Sur province in Mindanao, during a news conference broadcast live on national television.
Malacanang commended national and local officials who made the release of the hostages possible.
Secretary Ramon Carandang of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Offfice cited Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, Gov. Adolf Edward Plaza, Mayor Albin Magdamit, Philippine National Police chief Raul Bacalzo, provincial Social Welfare officer Josefina Bajade and the local Crisis Management Committee composed of the local PNP, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples.
Carandang said that President Benigno Aquino 3rd was pleased with the peaceful resolution of the crisis.
The total number of hostages was one more than the government had said earlier.
A driver of a calesa (two-wheeled, horse-driven transportation still popular in rural Philippines) had also been abducted along with the 11 school teachers and staff and a minor, Magdamit said.
Five Manobo gunmen seized 16 teachers and children in Agusan del Sur and held them at their jungle hideout for just over four days in a bid to get the government to free Ondo Perez, a jailed relative.
Perez is awaiting trial for murder and for kidnapping a group of 79 people, including teachers and schoolchildren, in La Prosperidad in 2009.
Perez's crimes stem from a longstanding feud with another Manobo clan.
The gunmen, whom police said did not understand Philippine legal processes, freed three of the hostages on Sunday and Monday and later received assurances from the government that Perez would be tried fairly.
No ransom was sought and their demand for an outright release was rejected, while the gunmen were warned that the government would use force if the hostages were not freed soon, according to Secretary Jesse Robredo of the Department of Interior and Local Government.
"They [tribesmen] will be made to account for what they did," Robredo said in a radio broadcast.
"President [Benigno] Aquino 3rd had standing orders to be patient in negotiations, but he was very firm in saying that certain things cannot be negotiated," he added.
Resource-rich Mindanao, which makes up roughly the southern third of the
Philippines, has been a battleground between the government and communist and Muslim insurgents for more than four decades.
Fighting has claimed thousands of lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of villagers.
Robredo said that the kidnappers were former members of local militia forces numbering several thousands who were given guns to help defend remote communities in Mindanao and elsewhere from guerrilla attacks.
"After they were separated from the [government-backed militia forces], their guns were not recovered and that is why they are armed," he added.
The Interior and Local Government chief said that he had ordered police forces, which come under his direct supervision, to take steps to disarm former militiamen so that they could not use government-issue weapons to commit crimes.
Senior members of the Mindanao-based Muslim clan of the Ampatuans and nearly 200 members of their government-armed militia forces are on trial for the November 2009 abductions and murders of 57 people, including 31 political rivals and journalists.
Although also pleased with the happy ending to the hostage crisis in La Prosperida, the Department of Education (DepEd) also on Wednesday still reiterated its appeal for local governments to help secure from violence schools and teachers deployed to conflict areas.
"The safety of our schools should not be left to DepEd alone but should be an effort of the whole community. We hope this incident will remind us that we need to work together—school and community—to provide our teachers and our children a safe and secure learning environment," Education Secretary Armin Luistro said during an interview.
Jefferson Antiporda, Maria Nikka U. Garriga, AFP AND XINHUA
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