COTABATO (Philippines) Oct 20: Muslim guerrillas freed Chinese hostage Zhang Zhongyi, in exchange for promised “humanitarian assistance,” officials in the Philippines said Saturday.

The Pentagon gang handed over Zhang, who had been held for more than two months in the southern island of Mindanao, to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the country’s main Muslim separatist group, in the town of Pikit Friday.

The MILF then passed him on to Libyan ambassador Salem Adam and Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema, the envoy told reporters.

Zhang looked thin and haggard. The military said he was given a check-up and pronounced in good condition. He has been flown to Manila and is expected to be turned over to the Chinese ambassador.

Adam said no ransom was paid but added “the Libyan embassy will provide humanitarian assistance if they (the kidnappers) surrender to the government and form themselves into a cooperative.”

MILF sources however said, “money changed hands,” but would not give details.

In the past, hostages held by Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines have been freed in exchange for “livelihood assistance” or “boarding fees” — terms used to describe payment.

Zhang won his freedom hours after President Gloria Arroyo flew to Shanghai to attend a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. She is to make a separate official visit to China on October 28.

Zhang and three other Chinese nationals along with a Filipino guide were abducted on August 12 while they were ransoming his brother Zhang Zhongqiang, an engineer for a Chinese company working on a Japan-funded dam project near this southern city.

Zhang Zhongqiang and a second Chinese hostage were killed when the military mounted a rescue attempt which sprung a third Chinese hostage. The kidnappers later freed the Filipino guide.

The military says the Pentagon gang are members of the MILF, which has disowned them. Zhang Zhongyi was freed amid peace talks between the government and the 12,500-member MILF in Malaysia.

Murad Ibrahim, the chief MILF peace negotiator and military commander, “directed the MILF to facilitate the release immediately” after the signing in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday of an accord to strenghten a ceasefire, Kabalu told reporters.—AFP