Sinnott kidnappers demand $2-million ransom

MANILA, Philippines - The kidnappers holding an elderly Irish Catholic priest hostage in the southern Philippines have released a video of their captive, saying two million dollars must be paid for his release.

The video, a copy of which was seen by a local journalist in Pagadian City yesterday, showed 79-year-old Father Michael Sinnott holding a copy of the Oct. 22 issue of a Manila newspaper.

“My kidnappers are led by commander Abu Jayad. They are asking two million US dollars as ransom money,” the priest said while standing in front of what appeared to be a bed sheet or tablecloth in a forested area.

“We are living in the open, in difficult circumstances. I am still in good health even if I do not have the full medicines.”

It was the first time any proof had been made public that Sinnott, who needs medication for a heart condition, was alive since gunmen seized him from his mission office in Pagadian on Oct. 11.

Father Patrick O’Donoghue, the Philippine head of the Missionary Society of Saint Columban, who saw photographs taken from the video, confirmed that it was Sinnott and expressed relief that he was looking relatively healthy.

However, O’Donoghue stressed that no money would be paid to secure Sinnott’s freedom.

Initially, The STAR learned that the kidnappers were demanding P50 million.

“The Columban fathers do not pay ransom and we never have and I don’t think we ever would,” he said, adding that Sinnott would not want a ransom to be paid.

“I could see him wanting that money to be used in ways rather than ransom. That two million should rather be used for education, for the care of people with disabilities,” he said.

O’Donoghue said he had no previous knowledge of the video and that he immediately relayed the news to a government crisis committee that is in charge of recovering Sinnott.

The pictures from the video showed an unshaven Sinnott smiling slightly, while someone else’s hand from outside the frame helped in holding up the newspaper.

AFP: Kidnappers not known yet

Meanwhile, military spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner confirmed that the military had obtained a copy of the video.

“Our intelligence (agents) on the ground have a copy,” he told reporters.

However, he said the military still could not verify who had really captured the priest.

There have been conflicting reports about who is holding Sinnott, with the military initially saying he was kidnapped by a Muslim pirate active in the area.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. also said he believes Sinnott is being held by rogue elements of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a separatist Muslim rebel group engaged in peace talks with the government.

The MILF has repeatedly denied any involvement. MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu told AFP on Saturday he did not know of any Abu Jayad, and had not been aware of the video before it was released to the media.

“We don’t know anything about a video that came out as proof of life,” said Kabalu.

However, he said the MILF leadership was aware of Sinnott’s general location and the likely identity of his kidnappers. But he said he would not reveal the details while the MILF pursued its own efforts to recover the priest.

The area where Sinnott is believed being held is a known stronghold of the MILF, while armed gangs and the Muslim Abu Sayyaf militant group are also known to operate in the often lawless region.

The Abu Sayyaf and other gangs have kidnapped priests and other foreigners in the region previously, then demanded ransoms for their release.

Sinnott has spent about 40 years in the Philippines, and is well-known in Pagadian for helping disabled children and other charity work. – Edith Regalado, Jaime Laude, Roel Pareño