After 3 Months, Gunmen Free Captive Reporter

A Philippine television reporter who was kidnapped and whose guides were beheaded as she tried to contact Muslim guerrillas was freed today after more than three months in captivity.

Arlyn de la Cruz smiled and waved to friends and colleagues at Zamboanga city airport after she was brought there from the southern island of Jolo.

“I did not expect I will be able to come back home today,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it.”

De la Cruz was taken hostage in Jolo’s interior Jan. 20 by gunmen who beheaded her two guides.

Her captors released her after a senator intervened, De la Cruz said. No ransom was paid.