PHILIPPINE SECURITY forces continued their search yesterday for kidnapped Irish priest Fr Michael Sinnott.
A military official said intelligence reports indicated the missionary was being held in a forest near Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte, but there were still few details on his whereabouts.
There have been wildly conflicting reports in the area as to where Fr Sinnott is being held and who is holding him. There have been reported sightings of him in numerous areas, and the army is remaining tightlipped on the details of the search.
“The effort of the military now is in intelligence gathering and cordon operations, which involve checkpoint operations. Our troops are prepositioned so that, in case the crisis management committee authorise a rescue operation, we are already in the general area,” Lt Col Romeo Brawner told a news conference, cited on local media.
“What we are doing now is that we are trying to verify all of these reports . . . All the information that we get will still have to go through a validation process,” he said.
“We are trying to exhaust all peaceful means . . . our last option is the military option.”
He added that the crisis management committee was trying to get in touch with the kidnappers.
There are fears for Fr Sinnott’s health as he is in a frail condition following heart surgery and was not carrying his medicine with him when he was snatched from his Columban order’s compound last week by armed raiders.
Prayer meetings and vigils calling for Fr Sinnott’s release have been taking place all over the world, including in Ireland, the Vatican and the Philippines.
Pope Benedict XVI expressed his concern and called for Fr Sinnott to be freed by his abductors.
The Inquirer Mindinao newspaper reported that the secessionist Muslim group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (Milf), had joined the search and rescue operation.
Milf has been behind a series of high-profile kidnappings and bombings in the country, although it has strenuously denied any involvement in Fr Sinnott’s abduction.
The group has been fighting for a separate homeland for minority Muslims in the predominantly Catholic nation’s south.
“Several hundreds of Moro fighters have been directed to identify, locate and rescue the Irish Columban priest, and they were given five days to produce results,” Milf spokesman Eid Kabalu was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
The fighters, who have fought a long war with the Philippine military in the region, had been told to establish the identities of the people behind the kidnapping.
“The situation is complicated because authorities blamed us. We are not involved in the case as we have standing strict policy against all forms of criminal acts,” Mr Kabalu said.
Reports that the Columbans had asked the US military to intervene and help with the search were later shown to be a misreading of a letter printed on the Columbans’ website. The order appealed to US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, asking for her attention on the case and for “all peaceful measures” to find a peaceful and happy solution.
