Manila: Three Indonesians taken by the Abu Sayyaf from a tugboat transiting the Sulu Sea last June was freed on Sunday, officials announced.
Secretary Jesus Dureza of the Office of the Presidential Adviser for the Peace Process, said that Edi Suryono, tugboat skipper Ferry Arifin and Mohammad Mabrur Dahri were turned over to Nur Misuari, chairman emeritus of the Moro National Liberation Front and Sulu Governor Totoh Tan around noon.
“Chairman Misuari personally called me and informed me about another breakthrough in the efforts to recover hostages held by the Abu Sayyaf Group early in the morning. I coordinated with Gen de la Vega, of Task Force Sulu to facilitate the smooth turnover,” Dureza said.
Dureza said that in the same phone call, Tan confirmed that he had physical custody of the three Indonesians and he will in turn turnover their custody to the local military officials headed by Gen. Arnel dela Vega of the Joint Task Force Sulu.
The three Indonesian sailors are crew members of the tugboat Charles 001 and barge Robby 152. The vessels were bringing coal from Indonesia to an area in the Davao peninsula when the hijacking took place in mid-June of this year.
The vessels initially had 13 people on board but six of these were later on released immediately after the incident. Three were also freed last September 17 the same day that Norwegian hotel manager Kjartan Sekkingstad was set free after nearly a year in captivity.
The release of the Indonesians brought to 16 the number of kidnap victims released or rescued from the Abu Sayyaf since July.
Aside from Sekkingstad and the recently released crew of the tugboat Charles and Robby 152, three other Indonesians were earlier abducted and released as well as six Filipinos.
“These efforts were a convergence of cooperation upon the direction of President Rodrigo Duterte involving the MNLF, the provincial government, the stakeholders and the armed force with its on-going military operations in the area against the Abu Sayyaf Group,” said Dureza in a statement.
He added that released Abu Sayyaf captives will undergo physical and medical check-up and will be flown to Indonesia after the normal debriefing procedure with the military.
Last July, amid a renewed rash of kidnappings by the Abu Sayyaf, Duterte had ordered a major offensive against the terrorists with the full might of the military brought to bear on the Sulu and Basilan-based armed group.
With most of its military units freed from deployment in areas infested by the communist guerrillas amid ongoing peace talks, Sulu had witnessed its biggest deployment of government forces in recent years since the MNLF separatist insurgency during the 1970s. According to army officials, some 10,000 soldiers are currently based in the island.
Earlier in the aftermath of the June abductions of Indonesian sailors, Indonesian Transport Director Tonny Budiono had ordered seaport officials not to issue sailing permits to vessels bound for the Philippines.
