Thousands of people on the Philippines' Pacific coast returned to their homes on Saturday after fleeing in terror when a major offshore earthquake triggered a tsunami warning.

Most of the residents had fled the east coast by the time waves of up to half a meter (20 inches) hit coastal areas within an hour of the 7.6-magnitude temblor striking offshore late Friday, civil defense chief Benito Ramos said.

A 7.6 earthquake struck off the Philippine coast on Friday, triggering a small tsunami that hit the eastern part of the archipelago, seismologists said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a depth of 34 kilometers (21 miles) and hit at 8:47 pm (1247 GMT), 139 kilometers east of the city of Sulangan on Samar island.

Divers recovered the body of one of the Philippines' most influential politicians on Tuesday, three days after a light plane carrying him and three others crashed into the sea, the government said.

Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo's remains were found 55 meters (180 feet) under water near the coast of the central island of Masbate, where the plane went down Saturday, Transportation and Communications Secretary Mar Roxas said.

Philippine Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo is among three people missing after a small plane crashed at sea off a central island on Saturday, officials said.

The Cessna crashed near the shore of Masbate island while trying to make an emergency landing after suffering an unspecified engine problem, regional military spokesman Colonel Generoso Bolina told reporters.

An Indian man escaped from al-Qaida-linked militants Friday after being held captive in the southern Philippines for nearly 14 months.

Bijo Kolara Veetil escaped before dawn Friday as his Abu Sayyaf captors were preparing breakfast, said Sulu provincial police chief Antonio Freyra.

At least fifteen people were killed and several were missing as torrential rains brought the Philippine capital to a standstill Tuesday, with floodwaters covering half the sprawling city, officials said.

More than 20,000 people fled their homes due to the rising waters while a deadly landslide buried four houses in a Manila suburb, police said.

A breakaway group of Muslim rebels used chainsaws to launch simultaneous attacks across 11 towns in the southern Philippines Monday, leaving at least three dead, officials said.

A civilian died in crossfire, while the army said the bodies of two Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) had been recovered hours after the attacks in Maguindanao province.

Philippine authorities have arrested a founding member of the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group blamed for some of the worst terror attacks in the region, security officials said on Sunday.

Ustadz Ahmadsali Asmad Badron, also known as Ammad or Hamad Ustadz Idris, was arrested on Saturday in the remote Tawi-Tawi islands in the southern Philippines.

Gunmen suspected to be Islamic militants ambushed a convoy carrying farm workers in the southern Philippines Wednesday, killing six and wounding 22 others, the army said.

The four-vehicle convoy, which also carried armed security escorts from a government militia, was on its way to a remote rubber plantation when it was attacked, Army spokesman Major Harold Cabunoc said.

A three-man news team for the Dubai-based al-Arabiya network, including a Jordanian man, are missing on a remote Philippine island notorious for Islamist militants and kidnappings, police said Friday.

Baker Atyani and his two Filipino crew failed to return to their hotel on Jolo island on Tuesday, provincial police chief Antonio Freyra said.