INTERIOR and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno said Tuesday that they are giving an "elbow room" to Moro rebels to prove what they have promised concerning the fate of Fr. Michael Sinnott.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has organized a company-size of forces to locate Sinnott as it promised to help recover the Irish priest from the hands of the kidnappers.

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Puno, however, maintains that Sinnott's kidnappers are members and some of them leaders of the MILF.

"We are giving a little bit more leeway for the central committee of the MILF to have some elbow rooms to do what they want to do, although we still maintain that the kidnappers are members of their organization," Puno told reporters in a press briefing in Zamboanga City.

"We believe that their efforts to try help Fr. Sinnott is positive and we would like to give them as much as elbow room that is necessary for them to be effective," he added.

Sinnott, 79, a member of the Mission Society of Saint Columban (MSSC), was seized by six gunmen in the evening of October 11 from the MSSC compound in Gatas district, Pagadian City, the capital of Zamboanga del Sur.

Puno said there would be no rescue attempt to recover Sinnott unless the safety of the hostage is at stake.

"We are watching and waiting now and as far I am concerned and the ACMC, we are in a wait and see attitude in so far what the MILF central committee will do," Puno said.

The MILF remains unresponsive on its request to make the identified suspects appear before the investigators handling the case of Sinnott.

"They have not responded to it (request) which is sad. It is a good thing sana kung pahaharapin nila," he added.

The six MILF leaders implicated by the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Sinnott's kidnapping are Latip Jamat, 113rd Brigade commander; Salip Aloy Alsree, 113rd Base commander; Imam Abubakar and Saidamen Ali, both battalion commanders under 113rd Base Command; and Nasser Macabato and Wanning Abdusalam, both members of the MILF's Special Operations Group (SOG).

However, Puno said without elaborating further that the suspects are within reach of the law. (Bong Garcia)