T

he Foreign Ministry returned three Indonesians to their family on Wednesday after they were held hostage by Islamist militants, based in the southern Philippines, for 20 months.

Hamdan Salim, Subandi Sattu and Sudarlan Samansung were kidnapped in January 2017 when they were aboard a speedboat off the southernmost island group of Tawi-Tawi in the southern Philippines. The kidnappers are members of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Abu Sayyaf group.

Indonesian Ambassador to the Philippines Sinyo Harry Sarundajang said Indonesia was careful in its negotiations to ensure they were not harmed by the group who was known to behead hostages.

He added that the militants handed over the hostages to the Sulu Province administration on Saturday under the direct supervision of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ West Mindanao Command.

Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan then handed them over to Sinyo the next day.

“We are very glad that the three citizens are in good health, even though they seemed psychologically distressed, which is completely understandable considering they had been in captivity for almost 20 months,” Sinyo said on Wednesday.

Rudi Wahyudin, a relative of Subandi, said since the abduction, family members had sought information that were not forthcoming. “During that time, we were very miserable because of all the uncertainties.”

The government was not aware that any kind of ransom had been paid, Sinyo said. “The Philippines government did not say whether they paid any ransom.”

However, the release was not a cause for celebration after two fishermen were recently kidnapped in the waters off Gaya Island in Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia.

The ministry’s director for Indonesian protection, Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, said the government had yet to confirm who the kidnappers were.

The Philippines’ military confirmed no ransom had been paid to the militants.

“No, there was definitely no ransom given. [They] were pressured by our operations,” Lt. Col. Gerry Besana told AFP.

On Sept. 11, two Indonesian fishermen — Samsul Saguni, 40, and Usman Yunus, 35, of West Sulawesi — were kidnapped while working on a Malaysian-flagged fishing vessel, Dwi Jaya I.

Lalu said, according to the verification report, the fishermen had followed all standard operating procedures, which meant the incident was an indication of worsening security off Malaysia’s waters. He added that the government had conveyed this concern to the Malaysian authorities.

The fishermen’s abduction was the first incident after trilateral maritime patrols started in 2017.

Lalu said relevant stakeholders from the three countries had conducted regular meetings to review the latest developments in the region.

“After this incident, we should review what we should do next. We are facing criminals who will come up with something new every time we establish a new system.”

Sinyo said Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte had proposed a trilateral joint operation to crack down on the remaining members of the militant group.

“But of course there has to be more discussion and agreement from the three countries.”

Abu Sayyaf started targeting Indonesian sailors in 2016. The group is still holding 11 hostages, including a Dutch birdwatcher abducted in 2012 and a Vietnamese national, AFP reported.