ZAMBOANGA CITY – Members of a local indigenous tribe in Agusan del Norte released unharmed on Sunday the remaining five Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) employees they kidnapped after a series of government negotiations that began Friday.

The five DENR employees – Gabriel Arlan, Rito Espinido, Teofredo Pujadas, and two others identified only as Clar and Abogatal – were released unharmed in a remote area in Agusan del Sur by tribesmen. They were released in the remote mountain barangay of Kulambogan.

The hostages were met by top regional officials of the DENR led by Regional Executive Director (RED) Edilberto S. Buiser.

They were immediately brought to the house of Butuan City Bishop Juan De Dios Pueblos where they took a light meal before they were taken by the Philippine National Police for proper medical check-up and  debriefing.

Emeliano Gatillo Jr. and Efren Sabuero had been freed earlier by the group in the town of Sibagat in Agusan del Sur.

It was unknown whether the release of the five hostages was part of the demands of the kidnappers.

Chief Inspector Martin Gamba, a spokesman for the police task force handling the case, said the negotiation was spearheaded by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NICP).

Gamba said the kidnappers are believed members of a local indigenous tribe, adding the negotiations were held in the hinterland village of Padiay in Butuan City in Agusan del Norte.

The seven were abducted by tribesmen who demanded the government to cancel all forest agreements with commercial loggers in areas where there are presence of indigenous communities.

The NCIP is the primary government agency that formulates and implements policies, plans, and programs for the recognition, promotion and protection of the rights and well-being of indigenous peoples with due regard to their ancestral domains and lands, self-governance and empowerment, social justice and human rights, and cultural integrity.

The seven DENR men working as forest rangers were kidnapped on October 21 near a forest checkpoint in Butuan City.

The military said the kidnappers have made four demands in exchange for the freedom of the hostages after a man who claimed to be the leader of the gang holding the foresters contacted
the DENR.

Major Michelle Anayron, a spokesman for the Army’s 4th Infantry Division in Mindanao, said the kidnappers demanded the cancellation of the Community-Based Forest Management Agreement in the town of Sibagat; the awarding of the Certificates of Ancestral Domain Title; government approval of customary farming and the cancellation of the Integrated Forest Management Agreement with commercial logging companies in their area.

It was reported that the Community-Based Forest Management Agreement in the town of Sibagat had already been canceled Friday by the government.

Meanwhile, top officials of the DENR and the hierarchy of the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) expressed heartfelt gratitude to the crisis management committee for properly handling the kidnapping situation.

The crisis management committee has succeeded in securing the freedom of all DENR hostages after five days in captivity from the hands of alleged kidnap leader Leonardo “Andot” I. Behing without bloodshed and ransom paid.

“The release of the hostages was unconditional,” Crisis Management Committee (CMC) said.

The DENR personnel were freed by the kidnappers due to moral pressures after the negotiating panel led by the NCIP Regional Director Atty. Jake Dumagan explained that the DENR have given programs and various assistance and projects to the lumads in the past years.