Former hostage helps military hunt Abus

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AP) – A former hostage seized from a Malaysian resort with five others is helping troops find his abductors in the southern Philippines, a military spokesman said Wednesday.

Lt. Col. Renoir Pascua of the Southern Command also said Novelito "Nonoy" Arcosel, earlier identified as a Malaysian, is a Filipino who worked at the Borneo Paradise Resort.

Heavily armed gunmen in a speedboat stormed the resort on Oct. 5 and nabbed workers identified as three Filipinos and three Indonesians. Malaysia has refused to pay US$2.63 million in ransom.

Arcosel was recovered last week by Filipino soldiers in Tawi Tawi province close to the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah, on the northern part of Borneo Island.

"Arcosel is in Tawi Tawi so he could help guide our troops to the kidnappers’ hideout," Pascua told reporters.

Arcosel earlier claimed the kidnappers were members of the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group. He said the guerrillas ordered him and the other hostages, including his parents, to run as the guerrillas fired at them. He told police the others were killed and he escaped death by running fast.

Pascua said Arcosel eventually told interrogators that he escaped after pretending to urinate. Arcosel then heard gunfire and assumed the other hostages were killed.