(UPDATE) Leftist rebels free abducted jail warden in ComVal

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Xinhua) - Leftist rebels today released a provincial jail warden who was abducted in the southern Philippines last month, authorities said.

Jose Mervin Coquilla was handed by the New People's Army (NPA) to Rodrigo Duterte, mayor of Davao City during a ceremony at a rebel-influenced hinterland village in Compostela Valley province past 1 p.m., said Arturo Uy, provincial governor.

"Yes, the warden was released by the NPA this afternoon," Uy told Xinhua by phone.

Coquilla's release came following a flurry of appeals from his family and the governor himself, barely a month after armed men abducted him and his wife outside their home in Panabo City, in nearby Davao del Norte province last Dec. 23.

The 44-year old jail official heads the Compostela Valley provincial rehabilitation center, a two-hectare prison facility in the southern Philippine city of Tagum which housed some 400 inmates including a dozen leftist rebel leaders who are facing various high offenses.

Aris Francisco, a local NPA spokesperson, told media Coquilla was arrested following alleged complaints of corruption and drugs trade inside the prison facility, charges his family and the governor denied.

The warden's release came just hours before the separately declared ceasefire by the government and the NPA expired.

The two sides have declared varying length of temporary truce in deference to the visit to the Philippines last week of Pope Francis.