Intelligence agents grabbed T/Sgt. Marlon Oronan, who was seized last Nov. 23, but did not engage his captors to avoid a bloody clash at the crowded airport, Col. Orlando de Leon, Marine chief of staff, told a news conference, where the freed captive was presented.
"There were a lot of people at the domestic airport," De Leon said. "We made sure nobody knew what was happening for security reasons."
Military officials learned that the rebels were preparing to release Oronan, 39, somewhere in Cagayan de Oro City, but decided to rescue him after tracking him down, he said.
Maj. Melquiades Ordiales, spokesman of the Marine Corps, said they learned that Oronan was turned over to local officials and a religious group in Guagua, Pampanga with instructions that he should proceed to Cagayan de Oro City where he would be officially released.
The rebels handed him a plane ticket and P5,000 as allowance.
"They gave me money but I returned it to them. I told them Marines don’t accept money," he told reporters.
To ensure that Oronan would follow their orders, the rebels took his wife hostage.
Oronan’s wife was subsequently rescued at 11:30 a.m. yesterday, which explained why he was presented to the media an hour after the scheduled time.
"We could not just compromise the lives of his wife and members of his family. We know that while he was seen alone at the airport, there were rebel spotters that any wrong move on our part could jeopardize the safety of his family," Ordiales said.
Oronan, still looking dazed by the sudden turn of events, said he was treated well by his captors.
"I’m OK, nothing bad happened," he said, recalling that he survived his 50-day captivity by eating wild animals like wild cats (musang) and monitor lizards (bayawak).
Oronan, who belongs to the Marine Battalion Landing Team-6 based in Iligan City, was seized from his house in Guagua, apparently after the rebels mistook him for an intelligence agent involved in counter-insurgency operations. He was on leave at the time.
Military officials once reported that he had been killed by his captors.
The Communist Party of the Philippines and the NPA, its armed wing, are on US and European lists of terrorist organizations.
The rebels suspended Norwegian-brokered talks with the government in 2004, saying that the Arroyo administration has done little to remove them from the terror lists.
The military estimates the NPA has about 7,500 fighters nationwide. — Jaime Laude, Ding Cervantes, Ric Sapnu and wire reports