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Wednesday, June 13, 2007
MILF to help rescue Italian priest
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is sending some of its members to Zamboanga Sibugay to help in the rescue of kidnapped priest Fr. Giancarlo Bossi.
Lawyer Abdul Dataya, chairman of the MILF Ad Hoc Joint Action Group, said he is sending two of his core members to coordinate with government troops tasked with the swift recovery of Bossi, the parish priest of Payao, Zamboanga Sibugay.
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In Manila, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered the military and police to work out the immediate rescue of Bossi and the arrest of his kidnappers.
She also ordered the activation of all intelligence networks in Mindanao to search for Bossi and his abductors, said Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita in an interview on Tuesday after the flag-raising ceremony in Rizal Park to mark the country's 109th Independence Day celebration.
Armed men snatched Bossi in the village of Bulawan, also in Payao, while he was on his way to say mass. The 57-year-old Bossi began missionary work in the Philippines in 1998.
Dataya said he is coordinating with Major General Benjamin Dolorfino, his counterpart in the ad hoc group, to map out how they can safely recover Bossi from his abductors.
The ad hoc group is composed of Philippine military and MILF combatants tasked to neutralize local and foreign terrorists hiding in Mindanao.
Dataya said he hoped that Bossi would be recovered on or before June 21, when the ad hoc's mandate would expire.
Bossi, 57, of the Pontificio Istituto Missioni Estere (Pime), was seized Sunday while on his way to celebrate mass in Bulawan in Payao.
Fr. Sebastiano D' Ambra, another Pime priest, said they are monitoring an area in Zamboanga Sibugay where Bossi was believed brought by his abductors but admitted they don't have "the exact location."
The Province of Zamboanga Sibugay is made up of 16 municipalities, 13 of which are located in the coastal area.
Earlier reports tagged a relative of an MILF commander as one of the kidnappers but this was denied by the rebel group officials who pointed to the notorious bandit group Abu Sayyaf as being behind the abduction.
The kidnappers are reportedly being led by a certain Kiddie Abdulsalam, a notorious kidnapper since the late 1990s who figured in several high profile kidnappings in the Zamboanga Peninsula.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said Abdulsalam has never been a member of their group, and added that he is affiliated with the Abu Sayyaf.
Zamboanga Sibugay police director Francisco Cristobal said they have tapped the people's help in locating the victim.
"We have strong feelings that he is still here (in Zamboanga Sibugay)," Cristobal said.
Religious leaders were also trying to establish contact with Bossi's kidnappers to negotiate for his release, said Army 1st Infantry Division spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Roberto Rabasio, but their efforts have not amounted to anything. He said though that the military is not favor of these moves.
"I cannot elaborate on the efforts being undertaken by the religious leaders. These are Catholic leaders, they wanted to help the other sectors (in securing the freedom of Bossi)," the Army official explained.
Pime regional head Fr. Giani Sandalo and other Pime priests are set to meet with military and police authorities in Zamboanga Sibugay for updates on Bossi's kidnapping.
Bossi is the second Italian missionary kidnapped in the same area in recent years. In October 2001, armed men also abducted Father Giuseppe Pierantoni.
Pierantoni escaped some six months later and told authorities he had been passed from one kidnap gang to another as military and police mounted a huge manhunt.
Rescue operations for Bossi are concentrated in Tungawan town where the kidnappers boarded motorized boats together with their victim.
However, authorities are also monitoring the coastal towns of Olutanga, Naga, and Ipil, all in Zamboanga Sibugay, as well as to the southern island provinces of Sulu, Basilan, and Tawi-tawi as possible areas where Bossi could be hidden.
Involved in the rescue operations are the Army's 102nd Brigade, Philippine National Police, Western Mindanao Command, Army's 1st Infantry Division and 18th Infantry Battalion. (Bong Garcia/JMR/VR/Ben O. Tesiorna of Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Bacolod. (June 13, 2007 issue)
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