Catholic priest rescued in Marawi arrives in Manila

A senior Catholic priest who was held hostage for nearly four months by ISIS-linked militants in the southern city of Marawi arrived, in Manila, on Monday, two days after he was rescued by Philippine government forces, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported.

A Philippine Air Force C-295 plane carrying Father Teresito “Chito” Soganub, vicar-general of Marawi, landed at the Villamor Air Base in Manila’s Pasay City at 1.40pm.

He was also joined by the spokesperson of the Joint Marawi Task Force, Colonel Romeo Brawner Jr.

Father Soganub was found abandoned by his captors on Saturday near a mosque, hours after a deadly battle that saw the military seizing the militants’ control centre, the government’s chief peace negotiator Jesus Dureza said.

He and a companion had reportedly been rescued by government forces after they retook the Bato Mosque, one of the strongholds of the Maute group, which is linked to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Father Soganub was taken hostage along with about a dozen of his parishioners after hundreds of armed extremists flying the black flag of ISIS stormed and occupied large parts of Marawi, the Islamic capital of the mainly Catholic Philippines, on May 23.

The priest had appeared in a video released by the militants a few days later pleading for his life and asking the military to cease the aerial bombardments. Photos showing him, a young man and a woman slumped against a wall had also circulated on the Internet. a few days later asking President Rodrigo Duterte to stop the military operations.

Accounts from hostages who escaped or were rescued said the militants had forced them to convert to Islam and to carry wounded fighters to mosques. They also forced the women to marry militants.

Security forces have engaged in ferocious street-to-street combat and launched air strikes in efforts to expel the fighters from Marawi, in a conflict that has raised fears that ISIS is looking to establish a South-east Asian base in the Philippines. More than 800 militants, government troops and civilians have been killed. (StraitsTimes)