(UPDATE) Leftist rebels free 5 gov't contractors seized in ComVal

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Xinhua) - Leftist rebels released on Monday five government surveyors who were abducted in the southern Philippines on Friday, authorities said.

The five sub-contractors of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) were released late Monday to Rodrigo Duterte, mayor of regional center Davao who has received freed rebel prisoners in the past, said Voltaire Rimando, chairman of the Crisis Management Committee.

Rimando and the military initially reported that there were six victims seized by the rebels. In admitting responsibility over the abduction earlier on Monday, the NPA said they took only five victims.

The five were seized while conducting survey and mapping operations in the hinterlands of New Leyte village, Maco town, in Mindanao's Compostela Valley province on May 30.

"The NPA maintains that the anti-logging aerial reconnaissance is merely a pretext to intensify imperialist mining plunder and counter-revolutionary intelligence in Southern Mindanao," said Daniel Ibarra, spokesman of the NPA ComVal-Davao Gulf sub-region.

Ibarra said one sky surfer drone and two multi-rotor drones, two laptops and one GPS were confiscated from Sky Eye personnel.