MANILA, Philippines — A jailed tribal leader has been temporarily freed to help urge gunmen, including his relatives, to safely release 16 mostly grade-school teachers in the latest high-profile hostage crisis to hit the Philippines in recent months, officials said today.
On Friday, at least five Manobo tribesmen snatched the 16 people, who were walking along a main road from graduation ceremonies at three schools, and took them at gunpoint aboard two motorcycle taxis to a hilly hinterland in remote Prosperidad town in southeastern Agusan del Sur province, officials said.
A government negotiator resumed talks today with the hostage-takers, who have demanded the freedom of tribal leader Jobert Perez, who was jailed for taking 79 people hostage in 2009 over a long-running clan feud in Agusan. A local court has temporarily freed Perez, who was allowed by police to urge the gunmen over the phone to peacefully end the hostage-taking, regional police chief Reynaldo Rafal said.
