Gunmen release 13 hostages in southern Philippines

[News_Editor]

Gunmen release 13 hostages in southern Philippines

2011-04-07 04:04:18 GMT+7 (ICT)

PROSPERIDAD, PHILIPPINES (BNO NEWS) -- Tribal gunmen released the remaining 13 hostages held in restive southern Philippines after five days, authorities said Wednesday.

President Benigno Aquino of the Philippines hailed the peaceful resolution of the hostage crisis and lauded the efforts of the local crisis management committee, the Philippine Star reported.

"They (hostage takers) may have succumbed to too much pressure after noticing that the Army rangers and police SWAT teams were coming in to the area where they and the hostages were hiding. Plus the fact that they lack food and water supply," Manobo tribal leader Tunganay Esmundo Brital told the Star in a phone interview after learning of the incident.

Brital admitted that he was in constant contact with the hostage takers, who were his cousins.

The gunmen grabbed the hostages, mainly teachers and students, after attending graduation ceremonies at a primary school in the township of La Purisima in Agusan del Sur province around 4 p.m. Friday. The kidnappers were demanding the release of their leader Ondo Perez, a former government militiaman who is in jail for kidnapping 75 people in the same municipality two years ago.

Perez was granted by the court temporary freedom to help in the negotiation with his relatives. The gunmen freed three of the hostages on Sunday and Monday and later received assurances from the government that Perez would be tried fairly.

According to authorities, combined government forces were dispatched immediately after the release to track down the gunmen who fled under cover of darkness towards the mountains of Sitio Inagawa in Barangay La Purisima.

The Philippine government was cautious of not repeating last year's bungled hostage-taking incident in Manila that left 8 Hong Kong tourists and the hostage-taker dead.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-04-07