PROSPERIDAD, AGUSAN DEL SUR?A three-day hostage drama ended on Sunday when tribal gunmen released their remaining 46 hostages after authorities agreed not to arrest them and animals were sacrificed.

?It?s really a merry Christmas for us. Thank God for this,? housewife Nida Rabusado exclaimed on hearing the news that her husband Casiano and the others had been freed after tough negotiations deep in the forest of San Martin village in Agusan del Sur province.

Under the deal, authorities agreed to transfer pending murder cases against the leader of the kidnappers and his men to a tribal court and disarm both them and a rival clan.

?Yes at last! Yahoo!? Vice Gov. Santiago Cane said in a mobile phone text message to the media after he picked up the hostages from the gunmen?s hideout in a cleared patch of jungle on a mountaintop.

The ending to the ordeal was a rare piece of good news for the country?s volatile southern region, following a political massacre last month that left 57 people dead, the beheading of a man last week in an unrelated abduction, and a Moro guerrilla attack on the Basilan provincial jail, also on Sunday, that enabled 31 inmates to escape.

The rain-soaked hostages, aged 17 to 62, were driven down the mountain in a military truck to a hospital in Prosperidad town, the provincial capital.

?Thank you very much, thank you very much,? one of the weary hostages said in front of reporters before military escorts took him and others away for medical checkups and a debriefing.

Earlier Sunday, Cane and other government officials met kidnap leader Ondo Perez in a restaurant to broker a deal after the hostages had spent three nights sleeping outside at the gunmen?s lair.

Pig, chickens sacrificed

In a more bizarre effort to placate the kidnappers, negotiators on Sunday also brought in tribal leaders to sacrifice animals as part of a ritual demanded by Perez, a member of the Manobo tribe, in overnight talks.

One black pig and three chickens were slaughtered, while 10 boiled eggs and 10 bottles of local wine were offered to the gods.

After the ceremony, Cane took Perez to a local restaurant where he met in private with Gov. Valentina Plaza and the deal was struck to give the kidnappers immunity from police action.

?All members of (the government) crisis committee signed a document in front of Perez where they stated that all members of the group won?t be arrested or detained,? Cane said.

Instead, the issue will be referred to elders of Perez?s tribe for settlement?which is allowed under local laws governing indigenous groups in the Philippines.

Free, at last

The hostages?44 men and two women?were freed at 4:45 p.m.

The gunmen?former government-armed militiamen?surrendered their assault rifles, grenades and ammunition.

?Declaring officially that all hostages are free. Yes, at last,? Cane said in a cell phone message.

Looking tired but relieved, the mostly male hostages waved and smiled at journalists and Army troops waiting at a nearby muddy village.

All wore new white shirts given by government officials who fetched them.

How it began

The rival clan of Jun Tubay has accused Perez of killing his son and three relatives in February. Sensing he would be arrested, Perez took some 75 villagers hostage on Thursday.

Some of the hostages were freed that same day, while a few escaped. Nine more hostages were released on Friday. On Saturday, 46 hostages were left in the gunmen?s hands.

Perez, in an earlier interview, said he was puzzled why only he was being arrested when Tubay?s group, he claimed, had killed 21 of his relatives last year.

Cane said Tubay and his followers also had outstanding arrest warrants for murder. He said a long-standing dispute over land led to the killings.

Bloodless rescue

?Ako?y nabunutan ng tinik (A fish bone has been removed from my throat) ? What happened here was an isolated incident,? Cane told the Inquirer. ?I never stopped praying to God that this will be solved fast.?

At a village center, families of the victims had been waiting for the hostages since Sunday morning.

The hostages had been held in an abandoned hut at a clearing on a thickly forested mountain about two kilometers from the village where they were abducted.

?The release of these people represents the successful end of peaceful effort by the government and the security forces,? Cane said. ?To do drastic scenario would only have jeopardized our vital work for a bloodless rescue mission.?

In the four days of captivity, troops had tried to encircle the kidnappers to pressure them to release the captives.

The hostages will be reunited with their families as soon as doctors declare them fit, Cane said. Several captives had complained of mild fever and high blood pressure.

At the hospital, Regil Rasonado, 17, lost consciousness, while a visibly weak Aner Sanchez, 52, had to be administered dextrose.

Sanchez said he felt weak because he and the other hostages hadn?t eaten since morning.

?I am happy because I?m already free,? said Sanchez, a father of six children. He said Perez had treated him and the other hostages well. With a report from Agence France-Presse