DHAKA: A Philippine police chief who was reported abducted on Tuesday by Muslim rebels has emerged free hours later after convincing his captors to surrender in a twist to a nine-day hostage standoff in the south of the country, officials said.

Philippine interior secretary Mar Roxas and police officials told a news conference that Senior Superintendent Jose Chiquito Malayo and three of his men were taken at gunpoint while trying to persuade some Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebels to surrender in fighting near Zamboanga city.

‘While trying to convince them, he was taken into custody or held hostage, but he kept on convincing them until he succeeded,’ Roxas told reporters, according to The Straits Times.

The rebels said they had come from a nearby island to join a peaceful protest by their group in Zamboanga but withdrew after firefights erupted between government troops and their comrades, Roxas said, adding police would investigate their claims.

BDST: 2017 HRS, SEPT 17, 2013
RoR/RIS