A haggard-looking Edwin Lim, sporting the same shirt he was wearing when he and three Chinese were abducted in early August, was released along a highway in the southern town of Kabacan late Wednesday.

The mayor of Cotabato city, Muslimin Sema, said Chinese hostage Zhang Zhongyi remained in the hands of the shadowy rebel group called the "Pentagon".

A spokesman for the kidnappers told local radio Zhang could be freed before the end of the week.

Lim, Zhang and two other people were kidnapped as they delivered a ransom for Zhang's brother Zhang Zhongqiang, an engineer at a Japan-funded dam project in the south, who was abducted by the same group in June.

Zhang Zhongqiang and one other Chinese were killed when the military mounted a rescue attempt last month, while a third was rescued.

One of the kidnappers, who identified himself as Faizal Marombzar, told DXMS radio station here that Zhang Zhongyi would be freed in "two or three days."

He claimed the Chinese man's freedom was delayed due to "some misunderstanding" in the negotiations, in which he claimed ransom was involved.

Jesus Dureza, a senior aide to President Gloria Arroyo, said the Filipino captive's release did not involve ransom.

The Pentagon is a little known group of bandits whose members were allegedly former guerrillas of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The separatist MILF, engaged in peace talks with Manila, has disowned the Pentagon.

Sema said he had promised the kidnappers "livelihood" projects if they turned themselves in with their firearms.

(China Daily 09/27/2001)