Among the freed hostages was a shell-shocked Fi-lipina forced to convert to Islam, the religion of her kidnappers who murdered her American boyfriend.
Maria Fe Rosadeño looked emaciated and forlorn as she and another freed captive faced the press. The face of the 21-year-old was covered with rashes and her hair concealed under a traditional Muslim veil.
She was vacationing with her Californian boyfriend Guillermo Sobero at the Dos Palmas resort in Palawan when they were seized along with 18 others by Abu Sayyaf gunmen on May 27.
Sobero was beheaded shortly after the night of June 11, other freed hostages have said.
Col. Hermogenes Esperon, commander of Task Force Thunder running after the Abu Sayyaf, said the bandits now have only four or five hostages, including American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham.
But The STAR learned that the only three captives remain in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf – the Burnhams and Deborah Yap, a member of the staff of the Jose Torres Memorial Hospital in Lamitan, Basilan.
Esperon said the seven hostages, who were abandoned on a deserted highway at 10 p.m. Wednesday, walked toward a nearby town until they met policemen and Army troops on patrol.
"They were released out of pressure from the continuing military operations, and rescued by our troops," he said.
Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu, Armed Forces Southern Command chief, said two of the women – Rosandeno and Angie Montealegre – were among a group of 17 Filipino and three American tourists seized last May 27 from the upscale Dos Palmas island resort off Palawan.
"They were recovered at an undisclosed place in Basilan this morning," he said. "But I will not tell you how they were recovered because this will affect our ongoing operation."
The third woman, Sheila Tabunyag, was one of two nurses snatched from the Jose Torres Memorial Hospital in Lamitan town last June 2 to treat injured Abu Sayyaf bandits, he added.
Montealegre told the military that the Burnhams are in bad shape after nearly six months in the jungles of Basilan.
The couple, from Wichita, Kansas, sent a letter to their relatives through Montealegre.
"They are not fine there. They want their family to know thay are sick and tired of running," Montealegre, who was airlifted to a military hospital here yesterday, added.
An informant in Basilan told The STAR that the seven captives were recovered at around 8 a.m. in Barangay Port Holland in Maluso town.
Cimatu said the four men who were released with the women are farmers snatched from the Golden Harvest farm in Lantawan town to serve as manual laborers for the bandits.
Three of them — Abdulpatta Mohammed, Joel Abellon, Marlon Dagayanon — were snatched last June 11, the day Sobero was beheaded in the jungle, he added.
Cimatu said he was hopeful the remaining captives will be freed soon in an intensified rescue campaign involving 7,000 troops scouring Basilan’s harsh jungle terrain.
"We are expecting other victims to be recovered soon, including the American couple," he said.
The remains of Sobero were found in a shallow grave by Army troops last month and were later identified by forensic experts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Apart from Sobero, the Abu Sayyaf has killed more than a dozen other hostages.
They have reportedly freed other captives in exchange for huge ransoms.
Adm. Dennis Blair, commander-in-chief of US forces in the Pacific, said Wednesday after visiting Zamboanga the US government would help the Philippines "ensure there is law and order in the country, destroy the Abu Sayyaf and free all hostages.