Soldiers find body of Indon ship captain

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Government troops have recovered the remains of an Indonesian ship captain kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf guerrillas and turned them over to the Indonesian consulate yesterday, the military said.

Indonesian vice consul Johannes Manginsela received the remains of Muntu Jacobus Winowatan, one of four Indonesian seamen abducted a year ago in Sulu, from the military provincial command.

The body was exhumed last week from a grave near the town of Patikul in Sulu after a number Filipino witnesses, themselves former captives of the Abu Sayyaf, led soldiers to the burial site, a military statement said.

The military handed over the remains after determining through forensic examination that the skeletal remains were Winowatan’s.

Lt. Col. Renoir Pascua, spokesman for the military’s Southern Command, said Manginsela flew to Davao to accept the remains.

Manginsela left Davao the same day to escort Winowatan’s remains back to Indonesia and formally turn them over to his family.

"In behalf of the Indonesian government, we are thankful for all the tireless efforts of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in freeing the Indonesian hostages from their (Abu Sayyaf) abductors and for recovering the remains of Winowatan," Pascua quoted Manginsela as saying.

Pascua said the military recovered Winowatan’s remains, along with those of another Abu Sayyaf captive, identified as Richard Chua. — Roel Pareño, Bong Fabe, AFP