The President said he had simply been “directing” the three – Misuari, Dureza and Tan – with regard to going about the job, and had invested in them “the full authority to negotiate” and ensure that nothing like it happened again.
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“I believe, the new development was that there were other hostages recovered by our government troops aside from the Norwegian”, Presidential Communications Operations (PCO) Secretary Martin Andanar said on Sunday in an interview with state-run Radyo ng Bayan.
Sekkingstad and Canadian nationals Robert Hall and John Ridsdel were abducted in September past year in posh holiday resort in Davao del Norte.
Dureza quoted then Sulu Vice Governor Abdusakur Tan as saying Flor’s release was a “gesture of goodwill” on the part of the Abu Sayyaf.
They were reportedly freed to the Moro National Liberation Front after the Indonesian government paid a R20-million ransom.
Freed Abu Sayyaf hostage Kjartan Sekkingstad relished his newfound freedom on Sunday, after he was presented by President Rodrigo Duterte to the media in Davao City, following the Norwegian national’s release on Saturday.
Moro National Liberation Front leader Nur Misuari assisted in the transfer of the three Indonesians to Philippine officials.
After the bandits decapitated Ridsdel, Sekkingstad was threatened by his captors, who repeatedly told him, “You’re next”.
From there, a government chopper will transfer the Indonesians to Zamboanga City while Sekkingstad will be flown to Davao City.
The Minister said that the three Indonesians are in a good condition and will be repatriated soon.
“The (Abu Sayyaf) did not release him out of the goodness of their hearts. governments have to deny paying ransoms, as it incentivises more hostage-taking”.
“Now, if there is a third party like his family that paid, we do not know anything about that”, he told reporters. Philippine forces have deployed 22,000 personnel to corner the militants in the Sulu islands following orders from President Rodrigo Duterte. The US had offered F-16 jets to the Philippines, and had provided two warships, but Duterte said he would rather have smaller planes and bombers to ward off Abu Sayyaf more effectively.
Abu Sayyaf is an old branch of al-Qaeda which recently pledged allegiance to Daesh, a Takfiri terror group based in the Middle East.
“Maybe it is not that apparent to the public the effect, or how the intensity of the unrelenting conduct of operations really falls on the Abu Sayyaf Group”.
It was not immediately clear whether Mr Sekkingstad had been ransomed off.
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Based in remote Muslim-populated southern islands of the mainly Catholic Philippines and listed by the USA as a terrorist organisation, some of its leaders have since pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.
