Abu Sayyaf releases construction foreman in Sulu

ZAMBOANGA CITY - Abu Sayyaf bandits has released unharmed a construction foreman allegedly after receiving a "board and lodging" payment of P500,000.

Local authorities presented Remigio Lingayan, 50, who was help captive by the bandit group for 52 days. He was handed on Sunday noon in Barangay Bunot in Jolo, Sulu to an emisarry of the construction firm where he was working.

After being briefly presented to members of the media, Lingayan was immediately brought to the provincial hospital in Jolo for medical checkup and then flown to Zamboanga City, where he was reunited with his family.

Lingayan did not mention if he was released after the payment of ransom. Some members of his family, however, claimed that P500,000 was given to the bandits as board and lodging fee.

Abu Sayyaf bandits snathced Lingayan and his brother-in-law Joselito Gonzales last June 5 in Sitio Baunoh, Indanan town.

Lingayan confirmed that Gonzales was killed at the height of the encounter between the military and the Abu Sayyaf last June 19 in Patikul town.

“We were running away with our captors as the military were dropping bombs and he (Gonzales) was directly hit in the abdomen,” Lingayan said in Chavacano dialect.

Gonzales' body was never recovered, he said.