Abu Sayyaf militants free anti-poverty workers

‘Hostages freed without ransom payment’

MANILA, Philippines, July 23, (AP): Suspected Abu Sayyaf militants have freed three abducted aid workers in the southern Philippines after the government withheld anti-poverty funds, prompting an impoverished town to pressure the rebels to release the captives, officials said Wednesday.

Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said the three aid workers and a companion were kidnapped Thursday in remote Talipao town in Sulu province where they were checking on families who received aid and working on another anti-poverty project.

Due to the kidnappings, the government withheld the cash grants to thousands of poor families to ensure the safety of aid workers. Talipao officials then exerted pressure on the militants, who separately freed their hostages this week without ransom payment, Soliman said.

“We didn’t want to put anyone else in a very risky situation,” Soliman said.

Soliman said town officials negotiated with the gunmen to free the hostages.

A military official said armed relatives of one of the kidnapped workers threatened the family of an Abu Sayyaf militant, helping to rachet up pressure on the kidnappers. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

More than 4 million families across the Philippines have received cash under a government program that requires the “poorest of the poor” to get regular medical check-ups and ensure their children attend school classes in exchange for financial aid. Sulu, about 950 kms (590 miles) south of Manila, is one of the country’s poorest provinces.

The Abu Sayyaf, which has about 300 armed fighters split into several factions, was organized in the early 1990s in the south and vowed to wage jihad, or holy war. An Afghan woman holds a mock child during a demonstration against the war in Gaza, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on July 23. Israeli troops battled Hamas militants on Wednesday near a southern Gaza Strip town as dozens of Palestinian families trapped by the fighting

scrambled to flee the area. (AP)