MANILA, Philippines - Police on Tuesday filed kidnapping charges against a former militiaman and 13 other men for taking hostage 125 people in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur last week.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) said kidnapping with illegal detention charges were filed against Joebert Perez alias Ondo and 13 members of a tribal group at the provincial prosecutor's office.

The PNP said Perez and his cohorts remain under the custody of the Agusan del Sur Police Provincial Office.

Perez and his group took hostage 125 people from Sitio Maitum, Barangay San Martin on Thursday morning. At least 50 people were able to immediately escape and 18 others, including 17 children, were released during the early stages of negotiations.

The armed group released all hostages on Sunday, ending the 4-day hostage crisis.

Authorities said the release happened after a 2-hour closed door negotiation between members of the local crisis management committee and Perez.

Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina, PNP spokesman, told ANC on Tuesday noon that among the agreements reached during negotiations was the transfer of the murder charges of Perez from the regional trial court to a tribal court.

Espina said he had just received information that the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) was preparing to ask the regional trial court handling the murder case of Perez for a momentary suspension of its hearings and the eventual transfer of the case to a tribal court.

The PNP had said that Perez and his group took hostage innocent civilians to prevent a police team from serving an arrest warrant against the former militiaman.

The arrest warrant was based on a multiple murder case filed against Perez for the alleged massacre of members of a rival family.

Perez's main demand to the crisis management committee was the dropping of the multiple murder charges.

Espina, meanwhile, clarified that the NCIP would make consultations with the family of the massacre victims before actually asking the trial court for the case's transfer to a tribal court. With a report from Noel Alamar, radio dzMM