Filipino Marites Flor was released in June.
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“The sustained military operations pressured the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and continue to result in the consecutive releases of the kidnap victims these past few days”, said Tan.
Three Indonesian fishermen held by Islamic State-linked rebels in the Philippines have been released, a Philippine military spokesman said on Sunday, just hours after the militias freed a Norwegian man after a year-long ordeal.
Sekkingstad and Duterte shaking hands during their meeting in Davao City.
Sekkingstad and Canadian nationals Robert Hall and John Ridsdel were abducted in September a year ago in posh holiday resort in Davao del Norte. Sekkingstad left Sulu at 2.40pm for Davao City where he was brought to meet with Duterte personally while the three Indonesians were sent to Zamboanga City.
But inducements and intervention from Manila appear to have succeeded where foreign policy has not, which Ottawa discovered in recent months with the beheadings of two Canadian hostages, Robert Hall and John Ridsdel.
The Filipino army is now engaged in a major military offensive against Abu Sayyaf fighters, who are locked down in their strongholds.
She also offered thanks to all other parties that had assisted in providing expertise in Sekkingstad’s case, noting that the authorities in both Norway and the Philippines had worked closely on the matter.
It was unclear whether a ransom had been paid in exchange for Mr Sekkingstad’s freedom, but it is widely believed that no captives are released by the group without it.
“Basically, I’ve been treated like a slave, carrying their stuff around, time to time abused”, a frail-looking Mr Sekkingstad said as he was received by a government envoy in the town of Indanan on the island of Jolo. “They knew that President-elect Rody wanted badly the release of these hostages”, he said.
Dureza said Sekkingstad stayed overnight in the place of MNLF chair Nur Misuari who, he said, helped in the release and volunteered to host his stay due to bad weather.
Dureza said he would present Sekkingstad to Duterte Sunday. The militants beheaded Ridsdel and Hall in April, saying the government had failed to respond to their demands, which were reportedly ransoms of some 300 million pesos ($6.5 million) for each.
Also released were three Indonesians held by the group, who were also turned over to envoy Jesus Dureza.
The Abu Sayyaf is a loose network of a militants formed in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network.
Abu Sayyaf has been branded a terrorist organisation by the U.S. and the Philippines for deadly bombings, kidnappings and beheadings. Abu Sayyaf, a group in the southern Philippines that professes radical Islamic ideology but which is better known for banditry and kidnappings, has declared allegiance to the Islamic State.
It was not immediately clear whether Mr Sekkingstad had been ransomed off.
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Muammar Askali alias Abu Rami, who claimed to be the spokesperson of the Abu Sayyaf, earlier said P30 million was paid as ransom.
