MANILA, Philippines?All?s well that ends well.

Already, Eugenio Vagni has forgiven the dreaded Abu Sayyaf kidnappers who held him for six months and threatened to behead him.

?Good to have you back. Welcome,? President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo told the Italian volunteer of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) during a call at Malacañang to thank the government for securing his release Sunday.

The 62-year-old Vagni recounted his ordeal at the hands of his kidnappers in their forest hideout on Jolo island to the President hours before she flew to Egypt to attend a nonaligned summit, said Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.

Present during the call were Italian Ambassador Rubens Anna Fedele, Sen. Richard Gordon, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. and Ermita.

Ermita said he later discussed with Gordon, chair of the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC), the senator?s proposal to grant amnesty to the kidnappers as part of a long-term process to bring peace to strife-torn Mindanao. ?We are thinking about it,? he said.

At a news conference at the PNRC headquarters, Vagni said when asked if he supported Gordon?s amnesty proposal, ?I have to say I am alive. In my life, I never hurt anybody, so yes.?

Vagni said it was up to the government to decide if it wanted to pursue the Abu Sayyaf bandits responsible for a series of kidnappings and beheadings in recent years but added that ?hope should not die in that part of the world.?

Vagni was kidnapped with fellow ICRC volunteers Andreas Notter of Switzerland and Mary Jean Lacaba of the Philippines on Jan. 15 while on a mission to improve water and sanitation facilities at the Jolo provincial jail.

Lacaba was freed in April, while Notter escaped days later.

The worst moments

Vagni did not rule out returning to the Philippines to work. ?I love the Philippines, I love the Filipino people,? he said.

The Italian was to leave shortly for Geneva to report at the ICRC headquarters before proceeding to his home in Tuscany. ?I want to find myself again, the way I was before. Then I will decide,? he said.

His message to the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf is a plea to return to normal lives.

Vagni said his kidnappers told him on Saturday that he was going home. He said he did not believe them, noting that they had joked about it in the past.

?There were times when I felt I was in danger,? he said. ?The worst moments were the encounters,? he said.

Over a dozen soldiers were killed in the pursuit operations. The leader of the kidnappers, Albader Parad, lost his two brothers, along with several others, in the clashes with the government troops.

Throughout his 179-day captivity, Vagni said he kept turning to thoughts of his family during the most stressful times.

Thoughts of family a lifesaver

?I guess for anybody in this situation, there is something that comes out naturally and that is survival,? he said.

To raise his spirits, Vagni said he would often meditate and think about the good times with his family. His short phone calls to his Thai wife, Khun Kwan, and their baby daughter were a lifesaver, he said.

?My wife would say, we are waiting for you, you have to come back to us,? he said.

Vagni said he was happy that his 2-year-old daughter could now speak and call him ?babbo,? the Italian for ?papa.? She could also speak ?I love you? in Italian to him, he said.

Appearing freshly shaved and in a brown suit, Vagni appeared calm and composed, recalling he survived on a diet of rice and fish, dodging bullets and longing for his family, until the talk turned to football.

?Oh, no, no, no,? he said when told that his team did not make it to the European Champions League, a coveted event among legions of Italian soccer fans.

Troops pursuing kidnappers

Although the government was considering Gordon?s amnesty proposal, Ermita said the military was pursuing the kidnappers in Jolo.

?We would continue with our strategy of right hand and left hand effort of providing, of pressuring them through military operations for those who fight the government and also give opportunity for development and for the others to return peacefully,? he said.

Muntinlupa Rep. Rufino Biazon said that the Abu Sayyaf was a terror group and granting them amnesty would go against the government?s policy of not negotiating with terrorists.

?If they want to go back to the fold of society, they should just surrender and not seek amnesty,? Biazon said.

Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez said: ?An amnesty proclamation which the President is empowered to issue subject to the concurrence of Congress should be only for those accused of political offenses not for kidnapping, murder, arson, beheadings.?

Golez said that the government should not even think of holding peace negotiations with the kidnappers because it would only result into the proliferation of terrorist gangs going on a rampage only to get amnesty after fattening their bank accounts with their ransom money. With reports from Gil C. Cabacungan Jr. and Associated Press