Military cordons area around kidnapped Irish priest (Roundup)

Oct 13, 2009, 9:44 GMT

   Manila - The Philippine military Tuesday set up a cordon around an area in the troubled south where a kidnapped Catholic Irish priest was sighted, a regional military commander said.

   Major General Ben Dolorfino said military informants sighted missionary Michael Sinnott with his kidnappers in the general area of the southern province of Lanao, 810 kilometres south of Manila.

   Dolorfino declined to specify the exact location where the 78-year-old priest and his kidnappers were seen three times since Monday.

   He said navy boats were dispatched to guard the sea, while roadblocks were also set up to contain the kidnappers' movements.

   'The efforts of the police and the military are to contain them in that particular area,' he said. 'We have four military navy watercraft that have cordoned off the sea.'

   'We need to restrict them,' he added.

   Sinnott, a missionary of the St Columban order, was seized late Sunday by six unidentified gunmen at the mission's house in Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur province, 890 kilometres south of Manila.

   The gunmen barged into the gated Columban House in downtown Pagadian and took Sinott at gunpoint to a waiting minivan.

   Police investigators said the suspects burned the vehicle in the nearby village of Santa Lucia and transferred the victim to a motorized boat.

   Allan Molde, a provincial spokesman, said the kidnappers have not made contact with authorities.

   'We hope the kidnappers would send feelers soon,' he said. 'We have not received any information or demands. We cannot do anything except to wait.'

   'This is the worst thing ever in a kidnapping,' he added.

   Dolorfino said the military already has an idea on the identities of the kidnappers, who were not members of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf rebel group.

   'It turned out that it's not the Abu Sayyaf, but another group which is also big,' he said. 'Most likely it is the same group that abducted Italian priest Father Giancarlo Bossi.'

   Bossi was abducted in June 2007 by the Pentagon kidnap syndicate in Zamboanga del Sur province. He was freed unharmed after ransom was allegedly paid.

   Authorities said Sinnott had just undergone quadruple heart bypass operation prior to his kidnapping.

   He has been working in the strife-torn southern region of Mindanao since 1966. In 1998, he established a school for special children in the area.