Filipinos Free 3 Californians, 10 Other Hostages

LAKE SEBU, Philippines —  Kidnappers on Sunday released 13 hostages, including three Californians, in exchange for promises of new homes, a school and a cemetery.

The hostages were released in the town of Lake Sebu, a remote area 640 miles southeast of Manila, where they were kidnapped Wednesday by 20 armed men during a picnic in the Traan-Kine Spring Resort.

The kidnappers demanded $57,000 ransom, which was raised by the hostages’ friends and relatives but never paid, authorities said.

Instead, Mayor Rosalita Nunez of General Santos, 30 miles east of Lake Sebu, said she promised them new homes for Muslims, a state-funded Muslim school and a cemetery exclusively for Muslims in General Santos.

Police and military officials say the kidnappers are members of Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic militant group blamed for a string of kidnappings, robberies and armed attacks on Mindanao, the main southern Philippine island.

But speaking in Washington, a Clinton administration official said the kidnappers may have been common criminals not allied with a militant Muslim group.

Philippine officials said those released Sunday included Nelson Roque and his daughter Noe, 10, of San Diego.

The group also included Noel San Gabriel, his wife Gloria, daughter Arlene, 10, and son Chrys, 5, they said. Gloria San Gabriel is an American citizen and lives in Fremont, Calif., while the others live in the Philippines.