Ten Indonesians were freed by their Abu Sayyaf captors in Sulu on Sunday noon.
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A photo seen by The Associated Press shows the sunburned men in fresh shirts eating rice and chicken with Sulu’s governor on a veranda beside a Japanese-style garden in his house.
A Philippine army officer who has been helping to deal with kidnappings by the Abu Sayyaf said a rebel commander from the Moro National Liberation Front, which has signed a peace deal with the Philippine government, helped negotiate with the Abu Sayyaf for the release of the 10 Indonesians. Four other Indonesian crewmen, who were snatched on board another tugboat last month, remain in captivity.
Previous reports said the 10 Indonesian crew members of Taiwanese tugboat Brahman 12, were forcibly taken by ASG on March 29.
Foreign ministers from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia are scheduled to meet in Jakarta on Thursday to discuss ways to boost security in the waters between the three countries.
When asked whether ransom was paid, the army officer said he was unaware of any ransom payment, but added that it was hard to imagine the Abu Sayyaf freeing hostages without receiving money.
Soldiers in a military truck deployed to remote villages in Jolo where 10 Indonesians kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf have been released May 1, 2016.
The militants still hold more than a dozen other foreign and local hostages, including citizens from Japan, Norway and the Netherlands.
Last Monday the group beheaded Canadian hostage John Ridsdel after the expiry of a ransom deadline.
Abu Sayyaf, the group said to be behind the abduction, had demanded 50 million pesos (S$1.42 million) for all 10.
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Abu Sayyaf is a radical offshoot of a Muslim separatist insurgency in the south of the mainly Catholic Philippines that has claimed more than 100,000 lives since the 1970s.
