GMA welcomes 2 escaped hostages

The two Filipina Jehovah’s Witness preachers who escaped from the Abu Sayyaf had a bittersweet welcome at Malacañang yesterday.

Preachers Amily Mantic, 27, and Cleofe Montulo, 48 — accompanied by their respective families — were visibly elated when they were received by President Arroyo at the Palace.

The two women and their families were flown to Manila from Zamboanga City and taken to Malacañang by Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Narciso Abaya and AFP Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Roy Kyamko.

Mantic, however, could not help but cry when Jenny May, her three-year-old daughter, refused to be carried by her for a photo opportunity with the President.

Jenny May no longer recognizes her mother. The child clung to Benjamin Montulo, Cleofe’s husband, who took care of her during Mantic’s eight-month captivity.

Mantic and Montulo were two of the six Jehovah’s Witness preachers abducted by the Abu Sayyaf on Aug. 20 last year while they were in Patikul, Sulu, selling Avon beauty products.

Their group includes two other women who are still held hostage by the Abu Sayyaf, while their two male companions were beheaded in Jolo a day after they were kidnapped.

One of the two men was Leonel Mantic, Emily’s husband. The other man was Leonel Montulo, Cleofe’s brother-in-law.

Mantic said she cannot bring herself to forgive the atrocities done to them by the Abu Sayyaf, particularly when she learned about her husband’s decapitation.

"I was told they even put Koran markings on his forehead," Mantic said between sobs.

She added that a few days before they escaped, she overheard the bandits lay out plans to kidnap more civilians.

Mantic tearfully told Palace reporters that they were able to escape from the Abu Sayyaf when skirmishes with the military had dispersed the nearly 300 heavily armed bandits and the hostages were left with just 16 guards.

In a formal presentation of the two hostages to the President, AFP deputy chief for operations Brig. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said the two women were able to escape at the height of the fighting between the Abu Sayyaf and the combined forces of the Army and the Marines at the border of Taglibi and Patikul last Good Friday.

The two women were immediately flown to their home province in Zamboanga del Sur, where they were debriefed by the military.

"With the freedom of the two kidnapped victims, we will continue the pressure against the Abu Sayyaf to wear them down (and) finally… destroy the Abu Sayyaf terrorists at the soonest possible time," Esperon told the President.

Mrs. Arroyo said she is grateful for the military’s efforts, "but there are still two of (the women hostages) there, so we would continue to press on" the campaign against the Abu Sayyaf.

Kyamko told Palace reporters the government is going to help the two kidnap victims "relocate themselves to a place where they want to live" to keep them away from possible retribution by their former captors.