The Indonesian held captive by the ASG managed to escape from sure death.
Destiny will not allow an Indonesian held captive by the rebel Abu Sayyaf Group in Jolo, Sulu to die by beheading.
The information disclosed by the Western Mindanao Command (WestMinCom), the victim Mohammad Safyan, 28, was spotted by the locals in the riverbank of Barangay Bual in Luuk town.
Safyan told the military that he has managed to escape from his abductors just before his scheduled beheading. He narrated that whey they arrived at the mangrove area of Barangay Bual and Bato-Itum, he tried to swim away from the rebels who held him.
The resident saw him swimming and they rescued him and thereafter brought him to the Luuk Municipal Police Station.
The foreigner will be brought to the Sulu provincial police office for documentation process before he can be sent home to Indonesia where his family awaits him.
Sayfan is one of the seven Indonesian crew members of the tugboat Charles who were taken captive by the Abu Sayyaf as they were sailing at the Philippine border last June 23.
The Joint Task Force Sulu continues their operations to rescue the other crew members.
Based on the records of the Philippine Army, there are about 20 foreign and local kidnap victims who are still on the hand of the Abu Sayyaf Group in the mountainous area of Sulu.
“Troops of the Joint Task Force Sulu were directed to scour the area and use all available assets to possibly locate the remaining kidnap victims and conduct operations to rescue them,” a statement from the WestMinCom said.
Indonesian Security Minister Luhut Panjaitan has previously expressed concerns Indonesia did not want the popular shipping route in the Sulu Sea to become a “new Somalia”.
In May, 14 Indonesians were released by Abu Sayyaf after being kidnapped in two separate incidents.
Abu Sayyaf is a small but brutal militant group known for kidnapping for ransom, which is a main source of funding since its creation in 1991.