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Nigeria kidnap: Filipinos home

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MANILA, Philippines (CNN) -- Twenty-four recently freed Filipino hostages safely arrived home to Manila Saturday after militants held them captive for 25 days in a clandestine jungle camp in Nigeria.

After nearly a month away from family and friends, the hostages will have a reunion at the president's Malacanang Palace. Later in the day they will meet Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

This royal treatment comes after the seamen were abducted Jan. 20 from the German-owned freighter Baco Liner II by gunmen with the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

The militia is seeking more returns for impoverished villagers from the vast oil wealth of the Delta region.

Their increasingly, brazen rebel attacks have disrupted oil production to the tune of billions of dollars over the past year but nearly all the hostages they have taken are released unharmed.

The Philippine government strongly hinted it would approve the payment of ransoms to win the freedom of the hostages on February 9 but on Saturday a government spokesman told CNN he had no knowledge whether the Philippine government had paid a ransom.

He stressed the Nigerian government negotiated with the gunmen and that Filipino officials were not directly involved.

The hostages were placed back into Filipino custody February 13 and two days later departed on a plane to London to begin their journey back home.

CNN's Kathy Quiano reported the hostages told her their captors treated them well and even allowed them to play ping-pong to pass the hours.

In upcoming days Philippine government officials will debate on whether to lift a ban recently enacted that stipulates Philippine workers are forbidden to work in Nigeria, a government spokesman said.

Earlier in the week CNN aired video showing dozens of militants dressed in black and wearing black ski masks, dancing around the hostages and firing automatic weapons into the air. The story has been running prominently on Philippine media.

In addition to the 24 captured seamen, a Filipino engineer and the Filipino wife of an Iranian construction executive were abducted in separate incidents last week.

Jane Gregorio, the sister of the abducted woman, Josie Beth Foroozan, 37, told CNN Foroozan managed to alert her husband in a cell phone call before being cut off.

The husband was later contacted on the same number by a man who claimed Foroozan had drowned after jumping from a boat in an escape attempt, Gregorio said. There has been no independent confirmation of that account.

Conejos said Philippine authorities believe Foroozan was kidnapped by a criminal group separate from the Delta rebels. Two citizens of Italy and citizens of Lebanon, the United States and France are also currently believed held by Niger Delta gangs.

CNN's Kathy Quiano and Dan Rivers contributed to this report

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