The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) yesterday confirmed the release of the eight overseas Filipino workers who were abducted in Nigeria on May 3.

In a text message, DFA spokesman Claro Cristobal said in answer to a query: "Yes, early this morning."

He said the released OFWs are now undergoing medical checkup procedures in preparation for their immediate repatriation.

The eight Filipinos, together with three South Koreans, were abducted from their barracks at the Daewoo-operated power plant in Port Harcourt at about noon on May 3. The abduction happened as the DFA proposed to lift the ban of OFW deployment to the African country following an assessment report that the security situation there is "stable".

The abduction is the third involving Filipinos this year.

Last January, 24 Filipino seafarers were kidnapped from their ship, while Filipino instrumentation engineer Winston Helera was grabbed while he was on his way to the airport.

They were eventually released.

The eight Filipinos and three South Koreans seized in Nigeria's oil-rich but volatile south last week were released in exhausted but stable condition after talks with their kidnappers, a report said Wednesday.

"The three senior South Korean officials of Daewoo Engineering and Construction were released upon negotiation between the insurgents and the Rivers State in Nigeria," South Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Ho-young was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency.

The eight Filipinos were released at the same time on May 8, he said in the South Korean newswire's report. Negotiations for the release of the hostages were difficult because the kidnappers were not a known group, South Korean officials told Yonhap.

The 11 men, who all worked for Daewoo, were kidnapped after a gunfight at their construction site, the Afam 6 power plant in the southern Rivers State.

"All 11 were released at around 5pm. They are in Port Harcourt," said one industry source who asked not to be named. It was not yet clear whether a ransom had been paid, the South Korean envoy to Nigeria, Lee Kie-dong, said in Yonhap's dispatch.

An agreement was struck after Rivers State officials weighed demands made by the kidnappers on Tuesday, he said in the report.

The workers were exhausted but stable based on initial reports, the envoy said.

An unnamed official quoted in the report said he was not allowed to discuss the terms of the release.

"But I do want to say that they did not make direct demands to us," he said.

The Philippine government on Monday had rejected appeals to negotiate directly with the gunmen, who have not been identified.

Philippine Daily Inquirer

Asia News Network

Manila