Dentist, nephew rescued from Abu Sayyaf abductors

Soldiers rescued before dawn yesterday a dentist and his nephew after a shootout with their abductors who are believed to be Abu Sayyaf militants in the southern Philippine island of Sulu, officials said.

Col. Alexander Yapching, chief of the military in Sulu, said soldiers rescued Dr Romeo Lao, 56, and Amor Rubio, 16, shortly before 1.00 am in the village of Lagasan in Parang town.

The duo were kidnapped by rebels, believed to be under Abu Sayyaf leader Galib Andang, in September in downtown Jolo, Sulu's provincial capital.

Lao and Rubio were taken by helicopter to Zamboanga City and were whisked away to a military hospital where doctors examined them.

The victims, both frail and pale, were not allowed to speak to reporters, but a relative Maria Teresa Lao, the doctor's sister-in-law, told reporters in the hospital that the two could hardly eat during their 12-week ordeal at the hands of the kidnappers and were constantly moving from one place to another.

"I spoke with Doctor Lao and he told me that they were not maltreated, but he complained of lack of food. They are frail because of the long time that they were held captive by the kidnappers," she said. "We are glad that it is all over now."

Yapching said there were no reports of casualties on both sides during the firefight.

He said the kidnappers fled when they saw more government reinforcements had arrived. He did not say how many rebels were guarding the hostages inside a thatched hut in the village nor did he say how many troops were involved in the rescue operations.

Former Defence chief and now commander of the National Anti-Kidnapping Task Force (Naktaf), Angelo Reyes, last week arrived in Zamboanga City and ordered the military to intensify the operation to free Lao and Rubio and the five remaining Borneo hostages held by suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen in the southern Tawi-Tawi province. Andang's group was linked to the kidnapping of 21 mostly European holiday-makers from the island resort of Sipadan in Sabah during a daring cross-border raid in 2000.

Meanwhile, soldiers and policemen re-captured a fugitive member of the Abu Sayyaf in a raid on a market place in Sulu.

Army Brigadier Gabriel Habacon said security forces nabbed the rebel Jainal who was implicated in the Sipadan kidnappings.

"He is currently being interrogated by the military," Habacon told reporters at a news conference yesterday in Zamboanga City.

The military also said the rebel was arrested in 2000 after he tried to exchange more than $300,000 at a local bank. The money was believed to be part of a ransom paid by Malaysian and Libyan negotiators for the safe release of several Sipadan hostages. Jainal went into hiding in Sulu after jumping bail.

The military estimates that more than $15 million ransom was paid to the Abu Sayyaf and that the money was mainly used to purchase weapons. The government has a strict no-ransom policy, but it allowed Libya and Malaysia to negotiate for ransom fearing the kidnappers would execute all their captives.