Kidnapped soldier freed in Davao

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Xinhua) - Leftist rebels on Monday released a soldier they had kidnapped early this month in southern Philippines, military officials said.

The hijackee, Corporal Rogelio Rosales, was turned over by the New People's Army (NPA) captors to Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte somewhere in the hinterlands of the province of Davao del Norte this afternoon, according to Colonel Harold Cabreros, a local army commander.

"He is now undergoing debriefing at the regional military headquarters," Cabreros told Xinhua by phone.

Rosales was seized by NPA gunmen at Kapalong town, also in Davao del Norte, on May 3. Rosales was the second soldier kidnapped and released by insurgents in the Philippines in the past two months.

NPA rebels abducted another soldier in Laak town in southern province of Compostela Valley in early April when the victim was on his way to work.