Escaped hostage recants statement

A rescued Filipino teenager, who was kidnapped along with five others at a tourist resort in Sabah, Malaysia in early October, recanted his statement yesterday that his companions were executed by Abu Sayyaf militants in the southern Tawi-Tawi province.

The military stepped up the search for the five resort workers in the far-flung Tawi-Tawi group of islands near the Malaysian border after Novelito Arcosel, who works as a front desk clerk at the Borneo Paradise Eco-Farm resort, recanted his statements, saying he was confused and scared at the time he gave his testimony.

Police said it rescued the 19-year-old Arcosel late on Monday in Tawi-Tawi's Languyan town after an exhnage of fire with Abu Sayyaf militants.

Arcosel told the police that gunmen, who kidnapped them October 5 from the resort, had killed his five companions.

Arcosel earlier passed himself off as an Indonesian national, but a government informer has positively identified him as a Filipino, who got his passport in Zamboanga City last year to work in Sabah.

"Arcosel recanted his statement after he was identified by our informer as a Filipino," an official said.