MANILA, Oct. 27 -- The release of the two German nationals by the Abu Sayyaf after the reported payment of 250 million pesos (5.56 million U.S. dollars) in ransom on Oct. 17 has reinforced the perception that kidnapping for ransom continues to be a thriving "cottage industry" in southern Philippines.

The German nationals, Stefan Viktor Okonek, 71, and Henrike Dielen, 55, had been held captive in the jungles of the island- province of Sulu, some 960 km south of Manila, after they were seized by the Abu Sayyaf group in April in the Sulu seas.

Consistent with its avowed "no ransom policy," the government insisted that no state funds were used in paying the ransom money, a claim that was affirmed by Philippine President Benigno Aquino III in an interview with foreign correspondents in Manila on Oct. 22.

"You should ask the people who negotiated rather than me. And in this particular case, the Germans were the ones who were negotiating," Aquino said.

Aquino all but confirmed a report by a Western wire agency, quoting official German government sources, that German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier had sent a special envoy to the Philippines to negotiate a deal with the bandits.

The sources said that the envoy, Ruediger Koenig, arrived in Manila a day before the two Germans were released.

The official statement of the Philippine military said that the release of the hostages was the result of "military pressure."