General Santos hotel owner freed by Pentagon gangmen

"Home at last. Free at last."

Kidnapped hotel owner Carlos Belonio of General Santos City uttered these words following his release in Saranggani province, ending 52 days in captivity by the Pentagon kidnap gang which snatched him and a Korean friend, a treasure hunter, last Feb. 6.

There was no word about the fate of the Korean.

Reports reaching Camp Crame indicated, however, that Belonio was rescued by elements of the military and the police who carried out a joint operation.

A suspected leader of the Pentagon gang, identified as Basit Guimbangan, was reportedly slain in a shootout with the lawmen.

The military believed that Korean Jae Keon-yoon could be within the area where Belonio was set free.

Belonio, owner of the Tierra Verde Hotel in General Santos and Jae were abducted last Feb. 6 while they were on a treasure hunt at Sitio Takal, Barangay Piñol in Maitum town at the boundary of Saranggani and Sultan Kudarat.

Capt. Noel Detoyato, deputy spokesman for the Armed Forces Southern Command based in Zamboanga City, said no money changed hands for Belonio’s freedom.

"His release was made through the efforts of the local government led by (Presidential Adviser on Mindanao Affairs) Secretary Jesus Dureza, Mayor Samuel Samrod, with the police and military pressure," Detoyato said.

Rumors in General Santos City had it that a private group gave an undetermined amount to the kidnappers, but it could not be ascertained if the fund was for ransom payment or to bankroll the negotiations.

Haggard and unkempt in a white polo shirt, Belonio initially refused to talk to reporters, but eventually opened up, saying he was so happy to be a free man again.

He said his captors took him by pump boat from Palembang town in Sultan Kudarat to the coastal town of Malapatan where he was released.

He recalled that he and Jae were separated by their captors 15 days ago.

He said the first attempt to set him free was postponed due to shelling by Army troopers of his captors’ hideout in a remote village in Palembang.

Belonio said some of the shells landed a few meters from the spot where negotiations for his release were being held.

Among those who fetched Belonio from Malapatan were Sultan Kudarat Gov. Datu Pax Mangudadatu, Central Mindanao police director Senior Superintendent Bartolome Baluyot and Sultan Kudarat police director Superintendent Abubakar Mangelen.

Mangelen said they will sustain the operations for the recovery of Jae and the arrest of the kidnappers led by Commander Tigre Jikiri, a leader of the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front whose unit operated in the area of Palembang and nearby towns.

Jae’s captors reportedly clashed with pursuing Army soldiers in Barangay Kanipaan in Palembang hours after Belonio’s release.

Military officials in General Santos said a soldier was wounded in the skirmish in Palembang which also left two suspected kidnappers, identified as Mino Samir and Osay Pandita, dead.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Leandro Mendoza said the rescue of Belonio came two days after a police-military unit clashed with 10 suspected Pentagon gangmen in Barangay Daplawan, Datu Piang town in Maguindanao.

Police said the slain Guimbangan was also believed responsible for the abduction of Dr. Rosemarie Agustin in Cotabato City last November, as well as the assassination of a police officer identified as Lantongan Kamsa in 1985.

Guimbangan was likewise tagged as a principal suspect in the massacre of Gla Alimao, his wife and son, of Barangay Lower Meta, Shariff Aguak in Maguindanao in 1987. — With Roel Pareño, Christina Mendez