on the southern island of Mindanao for six months, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported Monday April 8.
"There was a miracle for me to get free and without any harm, without any suffering," the BBC quoted Father Giuseppe Pierantoni from Bologna as saying.
The Roman Catholic priest from Bologna , who marked his 45th birthday in captivity in January, was flown to the capital Manila to meet President Gloria Arroyo, about 0200 local time, the BBC said.
Father Pierantoni told reporters he was "a bit confused and very tired" after being forced to walk for 12 hours on Sunday as troops closed in on his captors but suggested he thanked God for his release.
EMOTIONAL REUNION
In an emotional reunion with his colleagues from the Sacred Heart of Jesus order in Manila, he said he was "already in paradise". The authorities denied they had paid a ransom of nearly $200,000 demanded by "Pentagon" a group made up of mainly former members of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which is negotiating peace with the government.
The priest rescued near the coastal town of Tungawan, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) north-east of Zamboanga City, officials said. President Arroyo said Father Pierantoni’s rescue was a big step towards achieving peace in the troubled southern Philippines, and that she had ordered the army to step up operations.
News about the priests’ release came as the other Muslim separatist Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), offered the Philippine government to negotiate with them about the safe release of American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham, and Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap, said BosNewsLife correspondent Noel T. Tarrazona, who reports from the region.
NO NEGOTIATIONS
Secretary Joey Lina told a local TV station that the three hostages, who are held on the southern island of Basilan, near Mindanao, could be freed "in a matter of days", the BBC reported. However BosNewsLife learned Monday, April 8, there will be no negotiations, and that soldiers are preparing for a possible military operation to rescue the hostages.
Hundreds of US troops are already in the region and are expected to provide logistical and possible military support for these kind of operations as part of the American led war against terrorism. There has been international concern about the medical and mental condition of the missionary couple, amid reports that they have been under pressure to give up their faith in Christ.
Earlier this year Reuters television released pictures of the couple, in which they were forced to read an ASG statement linking the group with the al-Qa’ida network of Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 in the United States.
