Manila  - Two months ago, Muslim Abu Sayyaf rebel leader Albader Parad did not even want to negotiate for the release of Italian Red Cross worker Eugenio Vagni, who had been held captive for nearly six months on a southern Philippine island.

Parad had said he and his men were ready to die as the military intensified its offensive against the guerrillas to free Vagni.

But the arrest of Parad's two wives last week turned the hardened guerrilla commander into a sobbing man, left with no choice but to give up his only pawn in the game.

Parad freed the ailing, 62-year-old aid worker on Sunday in exchange for the freedom of his two wives.

But Major General Juancho Sabban, who heads the local anti-terrorist task force pursuing the Abu Sayyaf rebels, said the military did not arrest Parad's wives - Simang Annudin and Rowena Aksan - with the intention of using them as bargaining chips.

Sabban said Parad's wives were arrested Tuesday last week at a checkpoint in Indanan town because two were riding on an unregistered motorcycle. Four more relatives of Abu Sayyaf guerrillas were also arrested at the same checkpoint that day.

"We have reason to hold them," he said.

Sabban, however, conceded that the detention of Parad's wives put tremendous pressure on him and his group.

"He (Parad) was a very strong warrior but he was crying when he found out that his wives were arrested," Sabban said. "We realized that no matter how tough a warrior you are, if your family gets affected, you soften up.

"Albader was crying because he wanted to get back his two wives. He may look very tough on the television but he also has a soft heart," he said.

A trusted sub-commander of slain Abu Sayyaf leader Ghalib Andang during the Sipadan hostage crisis in 2000, Parad has become one of the fiercest fighters in the guerrilla group.

Parad and his group seized Vagni and two other International Committee of the Red Cross co-workers, Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba and Swiss Andreas Notter, on January 15 after the three visited the Sulu provincial jail.

Lacaba and Notter were released separately in April.

Sulu Vice Governor Lady Anne Sahidullah, who led the negotiations for Vagni's release, said she talked to the two women "for three days and three nights" to convince Parad to free the hostage.

"We talked to them, as a mother, as a wife ... ladies talk. We understand each other," Sahidullah told a local radio station a few hours after Vagni was freed.

Sahidullah said Parad agreed to free Vagni as early as Friday provided his wives would also be returned to him, but due to some glitches the release was delayed and finally happened early Sunday.

"Maybe he (Parad) also listened to my warning that if the hostage crisis continued all of them, including their families, might be wiped out," she said.

Sabban said the charges of illegal possession of firearms against Parad's wives had been dismissed by the state prosecutor's office due to insufficient evidence.

Sahidullah said she had already taken the two women and their motorcycles back to their parents.

Amid the euphoria and the cheers heralding the peaceful and happy ending to the hostage crisis, there were concerns over the strategy adopted by the government in securing Vagni's freedom.

"The supposed prisoner swap, with the government trading the two wives of Abu Sayyaf leader Albader Parad expediently arrested at a military checkpoint a few days ago, for Vagni, needs to be examined closely," the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper said.

"The strategy has civil rights implications not only for the relatives of the Abu Sayyaf members, but for the citizens of the republic. It may have worked ... but we should beware of the consequences of expedience," it added.

Defence Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said the allegations of a prisoner swap will be investigated "as a matter of course" by the local military inspector general's office.

"But right now I'll not focus on that," he said. "I will focus first on follow-up operations (against the Abu Sayyaf rebels) and I want results." (dpa)