Irish Catholic priest kidnapped in southern Philippines (Roundup)

Oct 12, 2009, 7:00 GMT

   Manila - An Irish Catholic priest was snatched by six armed men from his mission's residence in a southern Philippine city, a regional police chief said Monday.

   Michael Sinnott, 78, a member of the Catholic Church's Saint Columban missionary organization, was abducted late Sunday at the Columban House in Pagadian City, according to Chief Superintendent Angel Sunglao.

   Sunglao said the kidnappers barged into the house in downtown Pagadian, 890 kilometres south of Manila, and took Sinnott at gunpoint to a waiting minivan.

   Police investigators said the assailants, who were not yet identified, burned the vehicle in the nearby village of Santa Lucia and transferred the victim to a motorized boat.

   Witnesses said the kidnappers fled with the victim in the direction of Zamboanga del Sur province.

   Major General Romeo Lustestica, an army infantry commander, said the government had formed a crisis committee to handle the kidnapping.

   Lustestica said the committee, headed by Zamboanga Del Sur provincial Governor Aurora Enerio Cerilles, would attempt to contact the kidnappers once they reveal their demands.

   He said the abduction could be a kidnap-for-ransom incident although there were no demands made yet.

   'Right now we cannot think of another reason behind the abduction,' he said. 'What will they do with a 78-year-old priest? These kidnappers have no conscience, they did not show any pity for the priest who has just undergone a heart bypass surgery.'

   Lustestica said the military will just back up the actions of the crisis committee.

   Sinnott has been working in the strife-torn southern region of Mindanao since 1966 where he served a variety of pastoral and administrative work. In 1998, he established a school for special children in the area.

   Sunglao said the al-Qaeda-linked Muslim Abu Sayyaf rebels could be behind the kidnapping since they have the capability to pull such a daring act.