Local officials are negotiating for the release of a town mayor abducted Wednesday by leftist rebels in southern Philippines, authorities said on Friday. Vicente Pimentel, governor of Surigao del Sur province, has formed a crisis committee that will handle the talks to appeal for the release of Lingig mayor Roberto Luna Jr., a local army commander, quoting provincial authorities, said. Luna and his four armed army and police bodyguards were seized by rebels in a roadblock along the national highway in Compostela Valley province's Monkayo town early Wednesday. He was supposed to visit an ailing child in a hospital here, according to the military. Simon Santiago, a rebel spokesperson in Mindanao, accused the mayor of various 'crimes against the people' and maintaining a private army. 'I understand the provincial government of Surigao del Sur ( under Pimentel) is already working on negotiating for their release. There may be some demands,' said Lt. Col. Gilbert Saret, commander of an army battalion involved in the pursuit operation of Luna's captors, without elaborating the supposed demands. Aaron Aquino, police commander in Compostela Valley province where the kidnapping happened, said the rebels and their captives have already crossed the thickly forested mountain range separating Compostela Valley and Surigao del Sur and that a possible release might happen in Luna's province. Saret, the military commander, said pursuit operations against the rebels are being put on hold but that 'our forces are still all over the place to anticipate and be flexible for whatever development in relation to the incident.' This was the second time rebels abducted Luna. In 2007, New People's Army (NPA) gunmen posing as government soldiers raided Lingig police station, using Luna as a shield while ransacking the station's weapons cache. He was released a couple of hours afterwards. The 5,000-strong NPA is fighting a 40-year insurgency in 60 of the Philippines' 80 provinces and is included in the United States list of international terrorist organizations. 