Abu Sayyaf released an Indonesian national it held captive for over a month to Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebels in the remote southern province of Sulu, the military said Thursday.
Herman Bin Manggak, who was seized in waters off Sabah on August 3, was turned over to government forces at around 11 a.m., the Western Mindanao Command said in a statement.
Manggak's release came less than a week after the Abu Sayyaf released Norwegian national Kjartan Sekkingstad after one year in captivity.
MNLF founder Nur Misuari helped negotiate Sekkingstad's release, according to the government.
The bandits also released this week two Filipino hostages.
The Abu Sayyaf, blamed for the nation's worst terror attacks, is a loose network of militants formed in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network.
Based in remote Muslim-populated southern islands of the mainly Catholic Philippines and listed by the US as a terrorist organization, some of its leaders have since pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.