2 kidnapped soldiers freed in ComVal

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Xinhua) - Leftist rebels freed yesterday two soldiers captured in a raid at a Japanese- owned banana plantation in southern Philippines early this month, the military said on Monday.

The New People's Army (NPA) captors turned over the two soldiers, Benjamin Samano and Alvin Ricarte, to local officials and religious leaders led by Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte at a remote village in Compostela Valley past 1 p.m. Sunday, Ezra Balagtey, spokesperson of the military's Eastern Mindanao Command, said Monday morning.   

"They were fetched by a chopper and brought to the Eastern Mindanao Command (regional headquarters) for medical checkup and debriefing,"Balagtey said.

The two soldiers belonging to the army's 60th Infantry Battalion were snatched during a raid by some 20 NPA guerrillas in a farm owned by Sumitomo Fruits Corporation Philippines in New Corella town in neighboring Davao del Norte on Dec. 2.

Aris Francisco, a local NPA spokesperson, said the two were freed on"humanitarian grounds after a rebel court found them not guilty of any crime against the revolutionary movement."