Emotional appeals aired for Mindanao cleric

Irish priest kidnapped; police manhunt on

By Mario J. Mallari

10/13/2009

Unidentified armed men kidnapped an Irish missionary priest from his residence in Pagadian City Sunday night, military officials confirmed yesterday.

Kidnapped was Columban missionary Michael Sinnot, 78, an Irish national. The victim was forcibly taken by six armed men from the Columban House located in Gatas District, Pagadian City at around 7:20 p.m.

“The suspects forced the priest onto a minivan (GBL-687) and headed toward Sta. Lucia where they burned the mini van and transferred to a boat then fled to high seas,”

said military Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) spokesman Maj. Ramon David Hontiveros.

Army 1st Infantry Division (ID) chief Maj. Gen. Romeo Lustestica said the Zamboanga del Sur crisis management committee, headed by Gov. Aurora Cerilles, has already been convened to deal with the kidnapping of Sinnot, who has reportedly undergone heart bypass.

The military has not identified the group behind the daring kidnapping but the province is home to some lawless elements of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and even the bandit group, Abu Sayyaf.

Lustestica said they have been receiving varying reports regarding the possible route of the perpetrators but assured the military is following all leads to track down the kidnap men.

The Army official theorized the kidnapping was another case of kidnapping-for-ransom, citing Sinnott’s old age and health condition.

“Most probably they wanted money out of their actions. Imagine a priest at 78 years old, an Irish and had a heart bypass being kidnapped? For what? Either these people don’t have conscience or they made kidnapping as profession to earn money,” said Lustestica.

Lustestica said that hours after receiving the kidnapping report, combined police and military operatives were alerted and flashed the alarm on Sinnot’s abduction. “In fact, we deployed our seaborne patrols to monitor the situation but so far there are no positive indications that Father Sinnott was sighted,” he stressed.

Police and soldiers yesterday launched a manhunt for suspected Islamic militants who kidnapped the well-loved, 78-year-old Irish priest.

Six gunmen snatched Sinnott while he was doing his early evening exercise routine Sunday at his home near Pagadian city in Zamboanga del Sur province, authorities said.

While nobody has claimed responsibility for the abduction, police and military said they suspect that either the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group or the MILF were involved.

One witness said he was Sinnot was beaten up and transferred to a small motorised boat, which sped away toward open seas in the direction of a MILF stronghold in Lanao del Norte province.

“We are not discounting the involvement of the Abu Sayyaf and other groups, including the MILF,” city police head Chief Inspector Michael Palermo told AFP.

“A combined police and military operation has been launched,” he said.

One witness, Marieta Burok, 53, said she saw the priest being led to a motorized boat wearing only jogging pants.

“His front and back were bloodied. He was dragged to a waiting pump boat,” Burok said.

The Irish embassy in Manila was not immediately available for comment.

Pagadian Archbishop Emmanuel Cabajar urged Sinnott’s captors to free the priest, whose health he said has been fragile after he had heart bypass surgery in 2008.

“I am concerned about his safety. I am calling on his captors to free him. Please do not hurt him,” Cabajar said, adding that the Irish cleric was well-loved by the community he has served for decades.

Described as “jolly” with a grasp of the local dialect, Sinnott founded a local charity called Hangop Kabataan Foundation, which helps provide medical care to children with disabilities.

He has no known enemies and is said to be popular among the locals, who contribute generously to his fundraising activities, police said.

“I am saddened because he has done so much for the people of Pagadian,” Cabajar said.

Sinnott’s abduction comes nine months after the Abu Sayyaf snatched three Red Cross workers on the island of Jolo. Swiss national Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipina Mary Jean Lacaba were freed one after the other in a hostage crisis that stretched on for six months.

The military has also blamed the group for the abduction of Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi, also near Pagadian, in 2007. He was held for more than a month before being freed, allegedly after the payment of ransom.

In 2001 and 1998, the same group kidnapped priests Giuseppe Pierantoni and Luciano Benedetti. They were freed after alleged payment of ransoms, the military said, although this was denied by the victims.

Three Americans were also seized along with a group of Filipino tourists from an island resort in 2001, one of whom was beheaded while another was killed in a military rescue.

The military on Monday said the gunmen who took Sinnott sped in the direction of Karomatan, a known stronghold of the MILF, which has been waging a separatist rebellion since 1978. Peace talks with the group have been on hold since last year.

The Department of Foreign Affairs on Monday expressed “grave concern” over the kidnapping of the Irish priest.

In a statement, the DFA said it has been in touch with the Irish Government, through its embassy in Singapore and is also working with various government agencies, as well as the Missionary Society of St. Columban, “to exhaust all means to ensure the early and safe release of Fr. Sinnott.”

“The DFA joins the friends of Fr. Sinnott and other sectors of society in appealing to the abductors for his safe and immediate release given his advance age and health condition,” the DFA said.

Bishop Cabajar and Fr. Pat O’Donoghue, director of the Columban order in the Philippines, are in touch with local authorities on the kidnapping case.

“We request your prayers for the safe return on Fr. Michael,” the Columban Missionary said in a statement.

A native of Barntown Co., Wexford, Sinnott was assigned to Mindanao in 1957 and served there until 1966.

He returned to Philippines in 1976 where he has served in a variety of pastoral and administrative roles.

Police said they are eyeing six groups behind the kidnapping of the missionary. Authorities have yet to receive a ransom demand for Sinnott.

President Arroyo ordered police to form a special task force to go after the kidnappers, her spokesman Cerge Remonde said after the initial search had begun.

Malacañang yesterday expressed condemnation over the reported abduction.

Press Undersecretary Anthony Golez, Jr. said the crime was “untimely” and that the Palace downright “abhors” such kind of crime against people, especially a priest, at a time when the entire country is still recovering from the devastations brought about by the recent calamities.

“As much as possible, these perpetrators would not be allowed to escape the folds of justice. The authorities right now are on the lookout and at the same time doing the best that they can in investigating the matter. Hopefully very soon, the Irish priest can already be found unharmed and safely be brought to his family,” Golez said when asked for an initial Palace reaction against the issue.

Golez said the government is already appealing to the abductors for his safe and immediate release given his advance age and health condition. He noted, however, that government will stand on its no-ransom policy.

Virgina Pestanas, a staff at the priest’s foundation, paid tribute to Sinnott’s work in the southern Philippines and also said she feared for his life given his poor health.

“On behalf of the foundation, I am pleading with his captors to free him because he has a very weak heart,” Pestanas said.

“He has dedicated his life to our people. He always helped the poor and the needy children.”

The group also seized three Americans along with a group of Filipino tourists from an island resort in 2001. One of the Americans was beheaded while another was killed in a military rescue.

The Abu Sayyaf was established in the early 1990s, allegedly with seed money from Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network, to fight for a Muslim state in the southern Philippines’ Mindanao region.

The MILF has been waging a separatist rebellion in Mindanao since 1978. Peace talks with the group have been on hold since last year. With Michaela P. del Callar. Aytch S. Dela Cruz, Pat C. Santos, Gina Peralta-Elorde and AFP

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