MISSIONARY HEAD SAYS NO RANSOM TO BE PAID

Video shows Sinnott alive; abductors demand $2M

11/01/2009

The abductors of Irish Catholic priest Fr. Michael Sinnott have released a video of their captive reading a statement in which $2 million was demanded for his release.

The video, a copy of which was seen by a local journalist in Pagadian City yesterday, showed 79-year-old Sinnott holding a copy of the Oct. 22 issue of a Manila newspaper.

“My kidnappers are led by commander Abu Jayad. They are asking $2 million as ransom money,” the priest said while standing in front of what appeared to be a bed sheet or table cloth in a forested area.

“We are living in the open, in difficult circumstances. I am still in good health even if I do not have the full medicines,” he said.

It was the first time any proof had been made public that Sinnott, who needs medication for a heart condition, was alive since gunmen seized him from his mission office in Pagadian in Mindanao on Oct. 11.

Fr. Patrick O’Donoghue, the Philippine head of the Missionary Society of Saint Columban, who saw photographs taken from the video, confirmed that it was Sinnott and expressed relief that he was looking relatively healthy.

However, he stressed that no money would be paid to secure Sinnott’s freedom.

“The Columban fathers do not pay ransom and we never have and I don’t think we

ever would,” O’Donoghue said.

He said Sinnott would not want a ransom to be paid.

“I could see him wanting that money to be used in ways rather than ransom. That two million should rather be used for education, for the care of people with disabilities,” he said.

O’Donoghue said he had no previous knowledge of the video and that he immediately relayed the news to a government commission that is in charge of recovering Sinnott.

The pictures from the video showed an unshaven Sinnott smiling slightly, while someone else’s hand from outside the frame helped in holding up the newspaper.

Regional military chief Major General Benjamin Dolorfino said he was not aware of the video.

“I know nothing about the video. We have not seen the video,” he said.

There have been conflicting reports about who is holding Sinnott, with the military initially saying he was kidnapped by a Muslim pirate active in the area.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, however, had said he believes Sinnott is being held by rogue elements of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a separatist Muslim rebel group engaged in peace talks with the government.

The MILF has repeatedly denied any involvement. MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said on Saturday he did not know of any Abu Jayad, and had not been aware of the video before it was released to the media.

“We don’t know anything about a video that came out as proof of life,” MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said.

However, he said the MILF leadership was aware of Sinnott’s general location and the likely identity of his kidnappers but he said he would not reveal the details while the MILF pursued its own efforts to recover Sinnott.

The area in Mindanao where Sinnott is believed to be being held is a known stronghold of the MILF, while armed gangs and Abu Sayyaf bandits are also known to operate in the often lawless region.

The Abu Sayyaf and other gangs have kidnapped priests and other foreigners in the region previously, then demanded ransoms for their release.

Sinnott has spent about 40 years in the Philippines, and is well-known in Pagadian for helping disabled children and other charity work.

Catholic-run radio DxDD AM earlier received reports that Sinnott is being held in a remote area in the hinterlands of Sapad, Lanao del Norte.

Three informants met with radio station personnel in Tubod, Lanao del Norte.

They furnished the mediamen a sketch where Sinnott is said to be held captive in Sapad.

The abductors are reportedly members of a kidnap-for-ransom group led by local pirate Latip Jamat alias Commander Latip who operates mainly in Lanao area against earlier reports saying that a kidnap-for-ransom group led by local pirate Guingona Samal alias Kumander Ingo who operates mainly in Zamboanga del Sur holds Sinnott.

It was reported that Samal was the owner of the watercraft used in transporting the 79-year-old Columban missionary from Pagadian City to Sultan Naga Dimaporo, Lanao del Norte.

The informants said the Irish priest was turned over by his abductors to the group of Commander Latip Jamat and one Dr. Abu.

“The bandits arrived in Sitio Bilik around 7:00 p.m. on October 18 and they traveled across the remote areas of Sitio Simsiman, Sitio Matito and arrived in Sitio Mhatar around 11:40 pm where they fired (guns) as a signal.”

The informants added that on the same date, Fr. Sinnott’s abductors arrived at the house of Dr. Abu in the mountain area of Sapad near Sitio Rombanon, Bulandosa and Tuka Alaw adding that the bandits prepared possible exits for their escape in the remote areas of Sitio Bulandosa, Tuka Alaw, Katipunan, Sitio Rombanon and Sitio Camangas.

They also mentioned that the bandits received medicines for the abducted priest from the crisis committee last October 21. The informants said the Irish priest is healthy because his abductors provided him a paramedic to regularly check his blood pressure.

The 79-year-old Sinnott underwent quadruple heart bypass in 2007 in Cebu City. He was forcibly taken from the Columban residence in Pagadian City last Sunday, October 11.

AFP

Back to top

For comments about this website:Webmaster@tribune.net.ph
The Daily Tribune © 2006