MANILA -- Malacanang is willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) group helping in the recovery of Irish priest Michael Sinnott.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said in his weekly press briefing Wednesday that despite indication of double talk, the government still welcomed the help of MILF believing that they are sincere with the help they are extending.

“We continue to accept the offer of the MILF to help recover Fr. Sinnott safely,” he said.

Ermita said: “The MILF is an irregular force which has no full control of their people especially the base command.”

He said that the rogue elements of the MILF are the ones who were implicated in the abduction and needed to be pursued by the authorities.

“We are just hoping that that they are sincere and I believe they also know the consequences of their actions if ever they are not sincere,” he said.

He also clarified that police and military forces are still in the general area and not generally relying to the MILF’s investigation. “We are not relying only on the MILF info. We have our own sources of information. You can be very sure of that.” (Jill Beltran/Sunnex)