Rebels Free Military Hostages In Southern Philippines

ILIGAN CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 11 Mar) – Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels freed late Sunday about two dozen soldiers they earlier held in the southern Philippine province of Lanao del Sur, officials said.

The MILF freed their hostages in Lumba Bayabao town after the Philippine Army also released seven members of the rebel group earlier arrested for illegal possession of firearms.

“All the hostages are freed. Everything is alright now. We have resolved the problem and it only shows that the cease-fire mechanism between the military and the MILF is really working. The rebels and the soldiers even shook hands after their release,” Marine Maj. Gen. Mohammad Dolorfino, a member of the government peace panel, told the Mindanao Examiner.

Rebels seized the soldiers at around 4 p.m. in the town of Lumba Bayabao town in retaliation for the arrest of their comrades. The MILF said it would only free the hostages if the military released the seven prisoners.

The MILF said the seven rebels were on their way to a police headquarters to hand over a bandit they earlier arrested, when troops intercepted them. In retaliation, the MILF seized a military detachment and held more than 20 soldiers, Dolorfino said.

He said the MILF, which is currently negotiating peace with Manila, has been working closely with the government through the ad-hoc joint action group to track down criminals and terrorists.

Last year, the MILF rescued a kidnapped nine-year old girl, Donna May Ramos, in Basilan island after rebels stormed the hideout of kidnappers in the hinterlands and arrested two men.

In July last year, MILF rebels also freed a kidnapped social worker, Henry de Guzman, in the southern province of Lanao del Norte barely a day after bandits seized him.

The MILF, the country's largest Muslim separatist rebel group, forged an agreement in 2004 that paved the way for rebel forces to help government hunt down terrorists and criminal elements in areas where the rebel group is actively operating.

The rebel group also provided the government of a list of suspected Filipino and Indonesian terrorists operating in Mindanao. It previously helped Philippine authorities track down and arrest suspected Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya militants in the troubled region. (Mindanao Examiner)