14 December 2009 / REUTERS, PROSPERIDAD
Tribal gunmen freed dozens of hostages in the southern Philippines on Sunday after authorities transferred murder cases against them to a tribal court and disarmed both them and a rival group.
The gunmen had abducted 71 people in Agusan del Sur province on Thursday as they fled police pursuing them after a gunbattle with their rivals, but had freed 29 over the next two days. A Reuters team saw the remaining 42 hostages brought down from the mountain hideout of the gunmen and driven to Prosperidad town in a convoy in heavy rain, with the leading car carrying a banner saying “Peace reigns in Agusan.” The gunmen were also in the convoy after surrendering their weapons. “At last the crisis is over,” provincial vice-governor Santiago Cane told reporters. “The guns, bullets and grenades of these men are with me now.”
