Body found in Zamboanga town may be of Italian priest

DINAS, Zamboanga del Sur — Residents found a corpse floating in a swamp here wearing a bracelet similar to that worn by Giuseppe Pierantoni, the Italian priest abducted by a band of Muslim bandits in the province last month.

The military had earlier mistakenly reported that they had safely rescued the 44-year-old missionary, who had been abducted 35 days ago near this town.

"The reports that the priest was released came from a military informer. We are correcting those reports," said Brig. Gen. Angel Atutubo, deputy commander of the Army’s First Infantry Division and head of Task Force Giuseppe, the special group formed to rescue the Italian priest.

"Father Pierantoni was not released as earlier reported," he added.

Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu, chief of the Armed Forces’ Southern Command, said local authorities are now in the process of identifying the cadaver to determine if it was really Pierantoni’s.

"The people there assumed it was that of Father Pierantoni but this is not yet sure," he said. He added that the corpse would be sent to the local morgue for autopsy.

Local fishermen found the decomposing corpse in a swamp last Wednesday, but they only reported it to the police early yesterday, said Chief Inspector Rolando Cruz, the Dinas town police chief.

Church officials said the corpse was wearing a bamboo bracelet similar to the one worn by Pierantoni, the deputy parish priest of nearby Dimataling town.

A local priest, Oscar Canturno, said the corpse was wearing Pierantoni’s bracelet.

Police found the corpse with its feet tied to a mangrove tree and clad only in white pajamas and green underwear, Cruz said.

The face and chest had been eaten away by animals, but there appeared to be a bullet wound in the right armpit. On the arms were the tattooed initials "JMC DIN" and "ADB DIN," Cruz added without elaborating.

The body was taken to the town hall.

Atutubo was earlier told by his men that Pierantoni was taken into their custody following an encounter with the kidnappers. Upon inspection of the corpse, he said the body may have been dead for three to five days.

Atutubo has ordered his field commanders to determine if the priest is no longer in the hands of his captors, who were last spotted in their lair in Naga town, Zamboanga del Sur.

Pierantoni, a native of Bologna, Italy, is a member of the Sacred Heart of Jesus mission. He was abducted outside the church after celebrating Mass on Oct. 17.

The police summoned Dimataling parish priest Fr. Janusz Burzawa, a Polish, to identify the corpse.

Pierantoni was believed to have been abducted by members of Pentagon gang, a group of rebels-turned-bandits operating in war-torn Mindanao. The kidnappers demanded P10 million ransom for his freedom, having also freed a kidnapped Chinese man last month.

Church leaders rejected the ransom demand, but sent a humanitarian mission to the kidnappers’ hideout to deliver clothes, shoes and medicine for Pierantoni. Local officials were also understood to have made contacts with the abductors.

Pierantoni arrived in Mindanao 10 years ago. Church officials said he had escaped another kidnapping threat in his previous assignment in Bacolod.

On August 28, Irish priest Rufus Halley of the Columban order was gunned down in a botched kidnap attempt in Malabalang town, Lanao del Sur.

The suspects were said to be disgruntled members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Halley, called Father Popong by parishioners, helped foster understanding between Christians and Muslims in the region. Five of his brothers flew to Lanao for his burial.