UPDATE 2 - MNLF: Abu Sayyaf frees 3 Indonesians in Philippines

UPDATES WITH PRESIDENTIAL PALACE COMMENT ON NO-RANSOM POLICY

By Hader Glang

ZAMBOANGA CITY, the Philippines (AA) – Three Indonesians held hostage by the Abu Sayyaf militant group in the southern Philippines have been turned over to the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebel group.

MNLF spokesman Professor Samsula Adju was quoted by the Philippine Daily Inquirer as saying Sunday that the fishermen are currently being hosted by the MNLF’s fugitive founder, Nur Misuari, in the island province of Sulu.

“Yes, they were released to the MNLF by the ASG [Abu Sayyaf Group],” Adju said, adding that the Indonesians would be handed over to the Philippines government Sunday.

The fishermen, abducted at sea in mid-July, were reportedly freed Saturday night, after the Abu Sayyaf released a Norwegian held hostage for nearly a year.

Kjartan Sekkingstad was kidnapped from a resort on the island of Samal in September last year alongside two Canadians and a Filipina. The Canadians were beheaded earlier this year and the Filipina released.

The Inquirer had earlier reported Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Ramie as saying that Sekkingstad was readied for release, with the group awaiting the delivery of a 30 million peso (more than $627,000) ransom.

In August, President Rodrigo Duterte said 50 million pesos (more than $1 million) had already been paid for his release, according to local media.

On Sunday, Octavio Dinampo, a Sulu-based university professor, was quoted as saying "I heard P30 million was paid to the Abu Sayyaf Group” in exchange for the Indonesians' release.

The presidential palace, however, insisted that the government continued to refuse to give into the militant groups' demands.

“I would like to reiterate that the government maintains the no-ransom policy. Now, if a third party or the family gives ransom, we do not know,” Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar told local radio station dzRB.

Since 1991, the Abu Sayyaf -- armed with mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles -- has carried out bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and extortion in a self-determined fight for an independent province in the Philippines.

It is one of two militant groups in the south to have pledged allegiance to Daesh, prompting fears during the stalling of a peace process between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that it could make inroads in a region torn by decades of armed conflict.

In 2013, Misuari’s MNLF faction laid siege to the majority-Christian city of Zamboanga to protest a peace process by the MILF, which Misuari claims leaves Muslims in the country’s south shortchanged in comparison to an earlier MNLF peace deal.