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Monday, June 11, 2007
Italian priest kidnapped in Zamboanga Sibugay
By Bong Garcia
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Government troops are tracking down the gunmen who abducted an Italian priest Sunday in a remote village in Zamboanga Sibugay Province.
Military reports said the victim, identified as Fr. John Carlo Bossi, was seized by gunmen around 9:35 a.m. in the village of Bulawan in the town of Payao.
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Major General Nehemias Pajarito, chief of the Army's 1st Infantry Division, said "the troops are still tracking down the location of the victim and gunmen."
"There is no report yet coming from the field concerning their whereabouts," Pajarito said.
The pursuing troops are from the Army's 102nd Infantry Brigade, one of the units under Pajarito's command in Zamboanga Sibugay.
Initial information disclosed that the gunmen who seized Bossi are headed by a certain Commander Khidi. He is tagged as the leader of "lawless elements" in the area.
But Pajarito said they have yet to ascertain what group the gunmen belong to, whether "they are lost command rebels (rebels that has broken away from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which is talking peace with the government) or tied with kidnap-for-ransom-group (KFRG)."
There was no reported ransom demand yet from the priest's abductors, who are believed to be still moving from one place to another as troops track them down.
"No one has claimed responsibility as of this time," said Zamboanga Sibugay Police Director Francisco Cristobal.
Details on the circumstances of the abduction of Bossi, the parish priest of Payao, were not immediately available.
"We are still conducting pursuit operations," Cristobal added.
Bossi is the second Italian priest to be kidnapped in the Zamboanga Peninsula in six years.
In October 2001, Italian priest Fr. Giussepe Pierantoni was kidnapped by members of the Pentagon kidnap-for-ransom group in the town of Dimataling, Zamboanga del Sur.
Pierantoni was released by his captors several weeks later in 2001.
In an earlier interview, the present parish priest of Dimataling town, Jan Burzawa, said foreign priests are being targeted by lawless elements.
Burzawa, a Polish, has been serving as priest for the past 10 years in this region. (Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Manila. (June 11, 2007 issue)
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