January 27, 2009, Sun Star, Sayyafs release school principal, by Bong Garcia

January 27, 2009, Sun Star, Sayyafs release school principal, by Bong Garcia/AP/Sunnex

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf bandits freed Monday a school principal they kidnapped last week in the island province of Sulu, a top police official said.

Chief Superintendent Bensali Jabarani, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) police director, said the victim, Pakkam Kasim, was freed around 6:30 p.m. Monday in Lanao Dakula village, Parang town.

Kasim, the principal of Kutah Sairap Elementary School in Parang township, was kidnapped last Friday while aboard a hired vehicle traveling to the municipality of Parang.

Jabarani said no ransom was paid to the Abu Sayyaf bandits headed by Al-Bader Parad, a bandit mid-level leader based in the province of Sulu.

Parad was one of the Abu Sayyaf leaders involved in the mass kidnapping of Asian and European hostages in 2000 at a diving resort in Sipadan, Malaysia.

Jabarani said Kasim was referred for stress debriefing at the Sulu Police Provincial Office.

With Kasim's release, the number of hostages held captive by the Abu Sayyaf in the southern Philippines is down to three.

One of the victims is a Chinese-Filipino businessman, Xili Wu, who was kidnapped last Saturday in downtown Jolo, the capital of Sulu.

Wu, who is one of the owners of the Perlas Trading, had been doing business in Jolo for over a year already.

The two other hostages are Joed Pilanga and Nicole Rabeche who are reportedly in held in Basilan province.

The Philippine government, meanwhile, declared a Christmas holiday ceasefire with communist rebels. However, the guerrillas did not immediately say if they would reciprocate with their own ceasefire as they have done in the past.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the military will suspend offensive military operations against the 5,000-strong New People's Army (NPA) on December 24 to 25, and December 31 to January 1.

There was no immediate response from the Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines, which will mark its 40th anniversary on December 26.

Last year, the government's unilateral ceasefire ran for a longer period -- from December 16 to January 13. Ermita did not explain why it was shorter this year.

In an informal meeting brokered by Norway in Oslo early this month, rebel negotiators rejected an indefinite ceasefire pushed by the government as a condition for resuming formal talks stalled since 2004.

The rebels suspended the talks after accusing the government of including the Communist Party and its military arm -- the NPA -- in US and European lists of terrorist organizations. Original Link: