THE Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) told Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno to shut up after he declared Tuesday that a renegade MILF group is involved in Fr. Michael Sinnott's abduction.

In a report by Luwaran.com, MILF committee on information chair Khaled Musa said it is better for Puno to just shut up his mouth rather than giving statement that puts the safety of the kidnapped priest more in harm's way.

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Musa described Puno's statement as an attempt to sabotage the MILF efforts to help rescue the priest and put into bad light the very reputation of the very unit tasked by the Moro rebel group's central leadership to undertake the rescue mission.

"We suspect that Puno has other motives like sabotaging the peace process and perhaps monetary consideration," he said, adding that the kidnappers were already demanding $2 million for the priest, which will eventually be "coursed through the DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government)."

The MILF admitted though that Moro rebel commander Aloy Asree is the head of its 113th Base Command, which has jurisdiction over most of Zamboanga Peninsula.

Asree and his men are, however, on the ground to determine the whereabouts of the abducted priest and to jump off if necessary, taking utmost consideration of his safety.

The MILF official said Puno has a penchant for linking the MILF on every kidnapping in Mindanao, thus they are no longer surprised by Puno's recent statement.

"It is like a broken record that is played time and again and too unpleasant for the ear to hear," Musa said.

Mohagher Iqbal, chairman of the MILF Committee on Information and concurrently its chief peace negotiator, said the MILF is helping the rescue of Fr. Sinnott for various reasons:

1. It is an obligation on the part of the MILF to help kidnapped victims, not just Sinnott, who happens to be an Irish priest. Kidnapping is a condemnable act. However, the case of Sinnott, 79, is a special one: He had undergone four bypass operations and is too weak to cope up with the travails and hardships attendant to the crime. The sooner the rescue, the better for him;

2. No less than the Irish Ambassador to the Philippines and Singapore appealed to the MILF leadership headed by Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim to help rescue Fr. Sinnott; and

3. Also Sein Fein leaders Gerry Kelley and Martin McGuinness, who are both members of the Northern Ireland Parliament, sent official request to the MILF and its peace panel to exert all efforts to rescue the kidnapped priest, noting however the "difficulty" of the undertaking.

It was learned that the MILF is studying the possibility of filing a protest against Puno for making such irresponsible statement, and if this accusation will not stop and corrected, the group will also seriously consider withdrawing the MILF effort to help in the rescue of the priest.

"Let Puno be accountable for the consequences of his 'irresponsible statements'," Iqbal said in the report. (BOT)