GOVT, RELIGIOUS MISSION REJECT RANSOM FOR SINNOTT
MANILA, NOVEMBER 1, 2009 (STAR) By Paolo Romero – Malacañang rejected yesterday the $2-million ransom demand by the kidnappers of Irish priest Michael Sinnott but stressed efforts were being exerted to ensure his safe release.
Press Secretary and presidential spokesman Cerge Remonde said paying money to free Sinnott would go against the no-ransom policy of the government.
“We will do everything to ensure his safe release,” Remonde said. “We will, however, stick to the international policy of paying no ransom.”
Remonde said security forces were continuing efforts to locate the 79-year-old priest who was seized by gunmen from his missionary office in Pagadian City on Oct. 11.
He said the military and the police are coordinating their efforts with the local government of Zamboanga del Sur negotiating the release of Sinnott.
Remonde said even the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is negotiating a peace deal with the government, is helping to locate Sinnott.
The military said Sinnott and his kidnappers had holed out in the jungle area sprawling the boundaries of the Lanao provinces in Central Mindanao.
Sinnott’s kidnappers have released a video of the priest, showing him holding an Oct. 22 issue of a newspaper in the first proof of life obtained by the media.
“My kidnappers are led by commander Abu Jayad. They are asking two million US dollars as ransom money,” the priest said while standing in front of what appeared to be a bed sheet or tablecloth 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,” Sinnott supposedly said in the video.
Remonde, on the other hand, appealed to the media “not to give propaganda mileage to the terrorists holding Fr. Sinnott hostage for the good of the kidnapped priest and in order not to encourage similar barbaric acts.”
“We humbly appeal to our highly respected media professionals to adhere to established canons of journalism and media code of conduct in kidnap cases,” he said.
Remonde gave assurance the government would exert all efforts in accordance with international standards to secure the safe release of Sinnott without paying any ransom.
News of the video, obtained by journalists Saturday, was received with relief by Sinnott’s family and colleagues amid worries over his weak heart.
Fr. Patrick O’Donoghue, the 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.
“The past week has been very wet here in Mindanao and living in the conditions that he described can only have had an adverse effect on (Sinnott’s) fragile health,” O’Donoghue said.
However, he stressed that no money would be paid to secure Sinnott’s freedom.
O’Donoghue said the policy of the congregation is that ransom “should not be paid.”
O’Donoghue appealed to those “who may have ways of influencing those who are still holding Fr. Mick (Sinnott) to continue their efforts to enable the abductors to see that the best and simplest way forward is for them to now release Fr. Sinnott without further delay.”
The Irish government also released a statement yesterday saying: “The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Michael Martin... spoke to the Sinnott family early this morning and they were very relieved to hear that there is further evidence that Father Sinnott is alive.
“Minister Martin also spoke to our Ambassador Richard O’Brien who has over the past three weeks been working closely with the government of the Philippines on behalf of the Irish government and has had meetings with representatives of the MILF and other agencies working in the area.
“Minister Martin said that no effort will be spared to secure the safe release of Fr. Sinnott as soon as possible.”
The Zamboanga provincial crisis management committee (CMC) negotiating the release of Sinnott said they are waiting for instructions from Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno on how to resolve the hostage crisis.
CMC spokesman Allan Jun Molde said Puno would attend the meeting to provide inputs and relay the message from President Arroyo for the rescue of Sinnott.
Molde said the CMC was glad to see Sinnott is still alive as shown in the video.
“Our worries lessened. In fairness, he looks fine physically. So there’s a possibility that the medicines he badly needed finally reached him,” Molde said.
Gerry Kelly, a junior minister with the Sinn Fein republican party in Northern Ireland, said his sources in the Philippines suggested Sinnott had received the treatment he needed for his heart problems.
Kelly said he had been in touch with contacts in the MILF, which has offered to help in the search for the priest.
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 maintained Sinnott is being held by rogue elements of the MILF, a charge denied by the group.
The MILF meanwhile said it did not have an Abu Jayad among its ranks, but that it remains willing to deploy an armed unit for a joint rescue effort with government troops. – With Helen Flores
FR. SINNOTT KIDNAPPERS DEMAND $2-M RANSOM
(STAR)The kidnappers holding an elderly Irish Catholic priest hostage in the southern Philippines have released a video of their captive, saying two million dollars must be paid for his release.The video, a copy of which was seen by a local journalist in Pagadian City yesterday, showed 79-year-old Father Michael Sinnott holding a copy of the Oct. 22 issue of a Manila newspaper.
“My kidnappers are led by commander Abu Jayad. They are asking two million US dollars as ransom money,” the priest said while standing in front of what appeared to be a bed sheet or tablecloth 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.”
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 on Oct. 11.
Father 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, O’Donoghue stressed that no money would be paid to secure Sinnott’s freedom.
Initially, The STAR learned that the kidnappers were demanding P50 million.
“The Columban fathers do not pay ransom and we never have and I don’t think we ever would,” he said, adding that 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 crisis committee 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.
AFP: Kidnappers not known yet
Meanwhile, military spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner confirmed that the military had obtained a copy of the video.
“Our intelligence (agents) on the ground have a copy,” he told reporters.
However, he said the military still could not verify who had really captured the priest.
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 Jr. also 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 told AFP 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,” said Kabalu.
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 the priest.
The area where Sinnott is believed being held is a known stronghold of the MILF, while armed gangs and the Muslim Abu Sayyaf militant group 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. – Edith Regalado, Jaime Laude, Roel Pareño
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2009 by
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved