ZAMBOANGA, (ABS-CBN) - Commander Robot is on the run and young Abu Sayyaf rebels are left to engage a mammoth of government troopers out to pulverize the bandits in Jolo, Sulu.

A military spokesman on Monday said Fernando Solon, the first evangelist to have escaped his captors on Sunday night, disclosed that the rebel group guarding the prayer warriors of the Jesus Miracle Crusade (JMC) numbered only about 15 young guerillas.

Solon was able to free himself from rebel clutches after pretending that he was going for a swim in a nearby stream, a Reuters report said. Military elements saw him Monday morning in Barangay Mabuhay in Talipao, Sulu.

His fellow "prayer warriors" consisting of leader Wilde Almeda and 10 others were sighted in the afternoon at Sitio Lubok, also in the said barangay. The troops were able to pinpoint the preacher's location after Solon's escape.

There were no immediate casualty reports on both sides.

The military spokesman, who refused to be identified, told the news wire agency that the teenage rebels were running out of food, were exhausted, and are "ready to surrender." 

Solon said the main leaders of the Abu Sayyaf, including Commander Robot, also known as Galib Andang, had left the evangelists in the care of the younger group.

"Robot is on the run," the spokesman said.

Military officials said the Abu Sayyaf was estimated to number 4,000 men when the government offensive began but many had abandoned the fight and blended with the local population.

The rebels have been on the run since President Joseph Estrada ordered an air and ground assault on their strongholds on Jolo on September 16. The military operation has so far resulted to the death of 117 rebels and four soldiers, according to a military count.

The military spokesman said two civilians had died in the over three weeks of fighting and that more than 80,000 others had fled their homes to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

Until Monday's surprise announcement, the military assault appeared to be going nowhere.

Local residents said there were many civilian casualties and many analysts had doubted if any of the hostages could be found alive.

Redeeming?

Humiliated for months by a series of kidnaps by the Abu Sayyaf, the Chief Executive personally announced the rescue of the evangelists over DZMM radio.

Sounding more fearless amid the military victory, the President said the kidnappers did not deserve to live.

"They all ran and the troops are pursuing them," President Estrada said. "They have brought us too much shame...this kind of people should not linger long on this earth. They should be finished off in the soonest possible time so that we can finally have peace."

"I think we can finish this problem within this week," he added. "This has been an embarrassment for us and it has affected our economy and damaged our image abroad so it is is best that we finish this problem in the soonest possible time."

The rescue has given embattled President Estrada a major public relations victory at a time when the country's peso is sinking but analysts said the military success was at best a temporary political glow.

"No matter how fleeting this may be, it is still a welcome relief," political analyst and economist Antonio Gatmaitan told Reuters. 

"But the political strength of any administration will depend largely on the sound footing of the economy. How long this glow will last is anybody's guess." 

"Praise the Lord!"

The evangelist "prayer warriors" wore muddied and shabby clothes when they climbed down from military helicopters that brought them to the nearby city of Zamboanga after their rescue. 

A few wore sandals, others walked barefoot. They are expected to arrive in Manila Tuesday.

"Praise the Lord," was all they said before ambulances took them to an Army hospital. Almeda, who had suffered a mild stroke while in captivity, was brought down on a stretcher and transferred to a wheelchair.

Almeda and his disciples voluntarily went into the rebel lair in the hills of Jolo on July 1 to "fast and pray" for 21 mostly foreign hostages abducted by the Abu Sayyaf from Malaysia's Sipadan tourist resort in April.

The preachers ended up being taken captive themselves and were roundly flayed by the media for their supposed folly. 

Aside from Almeda and Solon, the other evangelists are Alvin Flores, Artemio Donoso, Joselle Subido, Dante Camuso, Nilo Bemetivo, Carlito Lape, Jun Nueva , Bienvenido Adera, Henry Fuller and Nestor Cuartero, brother of Danilo Cuartero who was freed earlier.

All of the Sipadan hostages, except for Filipino Rolando Ullah, have been released. The rebels have also freed two journalists from Germany and France while two other French television crewmen escaped in the first days of the army offensive.

The evangelists, held for more than three months, had been kept for four days in a mangrove plantation on Jolo island before soldiers attacked. 

The rebels fled after a five-minute firefight, abandoning their captives, the military said.

The fundamentalist Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, who profess to be fighting for an independent Islamic state but have spread terror by kidnapping civilians, still hold three Malaysians, an American and Ullah.

(With a report from Reuters)