Government troops recovered yesterday a total of seven hostages, three women and four farmers, who were abandoned by the Abu Sayyaf Group on Wednesday night. Soldiers freed the seven after penetrating a jungle lair of the Abu Sayyaf Group on Basilan island, about 900 km south of Manila.

American hostages Martin and Gracia Burnham, members of New Tribes Missionaries, and Deborah Yap, a nurse from Lamitan, Basilan, were still in the hostage takers custody in Basilan.
"We are expecting other victims to be recovered soon, including the American couple," southern military commander, Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu, told reporters in Zamboanga.

The three freed women hostages said they were abandoned by the Abu Sayyaf Group at the highway of Sumisip town in Basilan on Wednesday night. Soon after, four more Filipinos were recovered in another part of Basilan, Colonel Roland Detabali, assistant chief of operations at the southern military command, told reporters.

The three women took a jeep until they reached the town proper where they were taken by the military yesterday morning, said a television report which reached Manila. The husband and child of Tabunyag, one of the freed women, welcomed her in front of the media.

"We had a hard time. We kept moving about," recounted another freed hostage, Angie Montealegre. She, Maria Fe Rosadeno, and Tabunyag were shown on television wearing Muslim dress with covered heads.

"They are not just skinny, they are bony now," said Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu, who presented the three women. "We were converted to Islam. Even when we were moving about to escape the military, they found time to pray," said Montealegre.

One of her relatives, Divine Montealegre, was also kidnapped and released in Basilan on June 1, after a reported ransom payment. When asked what was the hardest part of her experience, Montealegre said: "It began at the time when I became a hostage."

Rosadeno was the girlfriend of American Guillermo Sobero, who was beheaded by the Group on June 12, after President Gloria Arroyo refused to allow a Malaysian to negotiate for the release of the hostages.

When Rosadeno was asked about the fate of her boyfriend, Sobero, she answered: "No comment." Montealegre and Rosadeno were among the 20 tourists who were kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf Group from Dos Palmas Hotel in Palawan, south-western Philippines on May 27. Most were freed by the rebels after alleged ransom payments, but the group seized more Filipino captives in Basilan.

The gunmen also killed more than a dozen other hostages, including Sobero of California. Tabunyag was taken by the group from Jose Maria Torres Memorial Hospital in Lamitan town on June 2, when the bandits brought their hostages from Palawan to Basilan.

The four farmers who were released were identified as Fernando Romeo, Marlon Garayon, Roel Abellon and Abdulpata Mohammad. They were taken by the military from a check-point yesterday morning.

They were kidnapped from the Golden Harvest Incorporated coconut plantation in Lantawan, Basilan, on June 11. The three women hostages were immediately flow by helicopter to the Southern Command in Zamboanga City for a medical check-up. The four farmers were not presented to the media.

Rear Admiral Dennis Blair, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command forces, expressed concern over the safety of the American hostages. He arrived in Zamboanga and met Lt. Gen. Cimatu on Wednesday.

"I feel very bad about the two remaining American captives and I also feel extremely bad about the eight Philippine citizens who are also hostages. I fully support the Philippines' efforts to rescue the hostages and crush the Abu Sayyaf group," he said at a news conference.

"This is the result of a continuing military operation and troops are pursuing the rebels," noted Lt. Gen. Cimatu. The Abu Sayyaf strength has gone down to a little over 70 from the original 1,000 fighters in Basilan because of the intense military crack-down on the group tied to Al Qaida chieftain, Osama bin Laden.

"Now, we are running behind about 70 Abu Sayyaf gunmen from a thousand fighters in the past and we will sustain the offensive against the group until it is eliminated," observed Lt. Gen. Cimatu.

He said pursuit operations were continuing and that he was hopeful all the remaining captives - the Americans and Basilan nurse Deborah Yap - would be freed soon. Lt. Gen. Cimatu noted that the recovery of the seven hostages yesterday "makes the rescue operation a little easier now". "We can now concentrate on recovering safely the remaining hostages."

Even if the Abu Sayyaf is destroyed, the problem of kidnapping will not be eliminated unless the government addresses the root cause of poverty in southern Philippines. "The problems posed by the Abu Sayyaf may not be over yet, unless we address the root cause of poverty, and that is socio-economic development in Basilan," Lt. Gen. Cimatu also observed.