Sinnott: My kidnappers wanted to watch fight, too

MANILA, Philippines - Irish Columban priest Michael Sinnott said his kidnappers released him because they wanted to watch the boxing match between people’s champ Manny Pacquiao and Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto.

Sinnott said they wanted him out of their lair so that they could go down from the jungles and watch the match.

He said his kidnappers at one point asked him if he wanted his freedom back and he said yes.

“Then the kidnappers told me, ‘so do we. Your freedom is our freedom. We don’t want to be here for a long time too and we want to watch Pacquiao’s fight’,” Sinnott told the CBCPNews, the official news service provider of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

Six gunmen abducted Sinnott, a long-time missionary in Mindanao, last Oct. 11 from his home in Pagadian City. His abductors demanded $2 million for his freedom.

Last Thursday, after a month in captivity, he was freed and the Irish and Philippine governments said they did not pay any ransom.

Sinnott also said the kidnappers finally released him because they were having a difficult time taking care of an old man like him.

“With my age and condition, they really don’t want to hold me longer. I am old, and I had a hard time walking,” he said.

Sinnott said he was held in “very primitive” conditions.

He slept in a swamp under a tarpaulin and was forced to walk for eight hours in the mountains.

“Because I am a bit old and I found hiking a bit difficult at times, I think they’d be glad to kidnap a younger man next time,” Sinnott told President Arroyo last Thursday at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Sinnott has been working for the Diocese of Pagadian, particularly for the Ministry for Handicapped of Kabataan Foundation since 1998. He has been in the country since 1976 and assumed several pastoral and administrative roles.

Meanwhile, Fr. Patrick O’Donoghue, regional director of the Society of Saint Columban Order where Sinnott belongs, said their missionaries would continue to serve in the country even after the kidnapping incident.

He said Sinnott’s kidnapping would not deter them in their goal of serving in the mountains of Mindanao.

There are at least 13 Columban priests assigned in the archdioceses of Cagayan de Oro and Ozamis and in the Diocese of Pagadian and are involved in various ministries from parish work to inter-religious dialogue with Muslims.

Police files raps  vs MILF members

The Philippine National Police (PNP) has filed kidnapping and serious illegal detention charges against a commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and his four cohorts for Sinnott’s kidnapping.

PNP chief Director General Jesus Verzosa yesterday said they have a strong case against the five MILF members.

“We’re very certain, we have a strong case against the suspects,” Verzosa said.

The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Region 9 filed charges against MILF commander Saidamen Montaner, James Palwa, a certain Jimboy and two other unidentified persons before the Pagadian City prosecutor’s office last Friday.

The suspects are members of the MILF 113rd Base Command.

Verzosa also directed the police to investigate the place where Sinnott was held to search for more witnesses.

Sinnott denied that the MILF participated in his kidnapping and told reporters that his abductors belonged to a “lost command,” a term referring to former rebels who have turned to banditry.

Verzosa said they would carefully analyze Sinnott’s statement and compare it with the report of the joint investigation of the CIDG and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

He said they are still searching for witnesses who could tag other suspects like Commander Salip Aloy Alsree alias Puti Ulo, Nasser Macabato alias Commander Nasser Macari, Commander Latip Rajamuda alias Latip Jamat and Latip Tatutan, Waning Abdusalam alias Ustadz Waning, and Putot Jakaria alias Ustadz Putot.

Abdusalam and Jakaria both have standing warrants of arrest for the kidnapping and illegal detention of Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi in Payao, Zamboanga Sibugay in 2007. – With Roel Pareño