3 RESCUED MALAYSIANS VOW: ‘We won’t visit Sulu ever again’

DAVAO CITY — The three Malaysian hostages who were rescued by government forces last Wednesday vowed never to go back to Sulu or even near the area even if it meant their not getting back to their old jobs on the island resort of Pandanan in Sabah, East Malaysia.

"I may go back to the Philippines again but only to Manila or Davao and never, never to Sulu or near the area. No, not that ordeal again with the Abu Sayyaf," said Mohamed Noor Sulaiman, the 43-year old resort manager who was among the Malaysian hostages snatched by Abu Sayyaf rebels in Pandanan last Sept. 10.

The three left for Kota Kinabalu yesterday after they were turned over by President Estrada to Malaysian embassy officials in simple ceremonies here at the Davao International Airport.

Sulaiman’s sentiments were also shared by Joe Joseph Jiongkino, the 40-year old Malaysian dive master who said he does not have plans of returning to Pandanan or any other diving resort near it that is also geographically adjacent to Sulu.

"We feared for our lives. We did not know what to do then. We just kept quiet all the time," Jiongkino told The STAR.

Meanwhile, the three also attested that in all those 45 days that they were in the hands of their captors, they had never encountered Ghalib Andang alias Commander Robot, the known leader of the extremist group.

"We have never seen him but we always hear some of our captors telling us that they were going to see Robot. A number of them left for several hours and came back again," said Jiongkino.

He explained though that they always overheard their captors on a two-way radio asking for instructions from a certain leader which could probably be Andang.

"We always heard them say they needed instructions from commander Robot but we never saw him," he said.

Sulaiman, Jiongkino and Ken Wee Cheong, 31, a construction worker, were rescued by pursuing soldiers in the mountains of Talipao, Sulu.

Jiongkino said neither had they ever seen the 24-year old American national Jeffrey Schilling or Roland Ullah, the Filipino who was among those taken in Sipadan island last April 23.

Jiongkino said they were held captive by about 40 Abu Sayyaf rebels with at least five of them acting as leaders. He added that they were exactly the same people who kept watch over them for the entire duration of their captivity.

"Yes, we have befriended all of them but still we do not know their leaders," Sulaiman said.

Sulaiman, who was in crutches because of a swollen foot due to an insect bite, said the resort was being renovated when they were abducted, that was probably why they were the ones taken since there were no foreign guests.

The three said they were glad that finally their ordeal with the Abu Sayyaf was over.

"It was a hard life although they treated us well. They kept moving us from one place to another, around mountains. And when we were bombed by pursuing soldiers, they always asked us to drop to the ground," Sulaiman said.

He said they survived mostly on tapioca for food, but if they were lucky, they got rice on certain occasions.

Sulaiman said they were never given any medication during the times that they felt some pain in their bodies. He also said that most of the time they kept silent as they were instructed to always be quiet.

The hardest part, they said, was not only when they had to drop to the ground when the pursuing soldiers started bombing the area where they were held captive, but also when they were filled by the thought that they had no idea when their ordeal would be over.