Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has appealed to Libyan leader Moammer Kadhafi to help free a group of hostages held by Abu Sayyaf Muslim rebels, reported the ABC news service on Saturday.
Arroyo asked Kadhafi in a telephone call to "deploy efforts to help find a settlement to the issue of hostages held in the southern Philippines."
The Abu Sayyaf movement is holding three Americans and 10 Filipinos hostage in the jungles of the southern Basilan island.
In August 2000, the Kadhafi Charity Organization, run by Kadhafi's son, financed the liberation of 21 Western hostages held by Abu Sayyaf on the island of Jolo.
This time however, the group, which demands the establishment of an Islamic state in the south, said there would be no bargaining over the 13 hostages, said ABC - Albawaba.com
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