Sinnott being held by rogue Milf band – AFP
October 28, 2009 11:55 pm
MANILA, Oct. 29 — The Armed Forces of the Philippines on Thursday said it has evidence to prove that rogue Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels are holding Michael Sinnott, a 79-year-old Irish priest who was kidnapped last Oct. 11.
“Reports that reached state that Fr. Sinnott is with the rogue rebels. He was turned over by a group of pirates that initially took him to the rogue MILFs,” said AFP public affairs office chief Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr.
Sinnott, who has undergone a quadruple heart bypass, was seized in his house in Pagadian City. The military believes that he is being kept by the rebels at the MILF bailiwick areas at the boundary of Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte.
“That is our belief even before that it is the rogue MILF. There are information coming in, confirming this. If the MILF is really sincere to help, they should talk to their commanders (to hand over Sinnott to government forces),” he said.
The MILF has earlier denied any role in the kidnapping and even offered to help rescue Sinnot. The MILF leadership went as far as saying that they will deploy rebel forces to help the military secure the freedom of the priest.
The government and the MILF has a standing ceasefire agreement. Last July, the military suspended its offensive against rogue rebels from the MILF’s 102nd, 103rd and 105th base commands to pave the way for the resumption of the peace process.
Told that the military is being had by the MILF by taking advantage of the truce, Brawner said: “We are merely instruments of national policies so whatever the national leadership says, that is what we are going to follow. if they say we will talk peace with the MILF, so we observe also the primacy of the peace process.”
Brawner reiterated the military’s appeal to the MILF not to deploy rebel forces to help in securing the freedom of Sinnott. “If possible, they should not operate as combat units on the ground because the (Army’s) 104th Brigade is already there, they are ready to move anytime if the Crisis Management Committee says so,” he said.
Brawner said the military has not confirmed if the MILF has indeed deployed forces on the ground. “They are saying that but so far, we have no sightings that there is (rebel) movement of that magnitude,” he said.
Efforts are underway to revive the peace talks between the MILF and the government. The talks were stalled following the aborted signing of the GRP-MILF Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain which was later declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
Earlier, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said that based on the reports that reached him, it appears that the rogue MILF rebels are holding the priest. He said the rebels belong to the 113rd Base Command that operates in the Lanao provinces. (PNA)/V3/VR/
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