Manila: Officials on Tuesday said that communist rebels have freed a town mayor and his four security escorts after 12 days of jungle captivity in which the mayor was interrogated for alleged killings and corruption and lived in fear of snakes and gunfire.
Mayor Roberto Luna said on Tuesday that he and his bodyguards--two army soldiers and two policemen--were turned over to officials by 30 heavily-armed New People's Army guerrillas in a jungle in southern Davao Oriental province.
The Maoist rebels freed Luna, who was afflicted with diabetes, on humanitarian grounds and after negotiating with Governor Johnny Pimentel of southern Surigao del Sur province, where Luna is mayor of Lingig town.
