Gunmen free two kidnap victims

Gunmen free two kidnap victims

MANILA (Reuter): Moslem gunmen freed the wife of a wealthy landowner and a family driver they had been holding hostage in the southern Philippines after the army threatened to attack their hideout, officials said yesterday.

The kidnappers, described by the military as former separatist guerrillas turned bandits, had demanded 15 million pesos (US$575,000) for the release of the pair but no ransom was paid, the officials said.

Luzviminda Catudan, 54, and driver Arturo Roa had been held for 33 days. They were freed unharmed in a village in Maguindanao province on Saturday, Governor Norodin Matalam said by telephone from the provincial capital, Cotabato.

"We surrounded their hideout and told them if they will not release the victims, we will attack," Matalam said.