Ullah reunited with family

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Filipino hostage Roland Ullah was tearfully reunited with his family yesterday after more than three years of captivity by Abu Sayyaf guerrillas.

Wearing a clean white shirt but looking emaciated, Ullah was presented to President Arroyo at the military’s Southern Command headquarters here where he was airlifted last Wednesday from the nearby island of Sulu.

"I asked her to help my family," said Ullah, his voice choked with emotion as his wife and two sons aged one and three flanked him.

Ullah was among 21 mostly Western hostages seized in April 2000 by the Abu Sayyaf from the Malaysian resort island of Sipadan, where he had worked as a compressor operator.

All the other hostages were freed in batches over several months, in return for huge ransoms, according to military accounts.

Ullah became the forgotten hostage after the gang kidnapped a second group of tourists in a Palawan resort in May 2001.

The military, at one point, suspected that he had joined his captors, having been allegedly seen by residents carrying a rifle.

Ullah was finally recovered last June 4 after he was separated from his captors amid clashes with the military in Patikul, Sulu. He was kept away from public eye for several days, raising concerns among former hostages who called on the military to release him.

The military said Ullah sought protective custody from military authorities "out of his own free will and volition" and cleared him of any links with the Abu Sayyaf.

During his more than three years as a hostage, Ullah was forced to cook for the rebels and was issued an M-16 rifle without ammunition "whenever they move from one place to another, until the time of his escape." — AFP, Roel Pareño