Nakakahiya talga tong pamumuno c Macacapal Arroyo. Napaka liit ng bansa ng Pilipinas walang kakayahang masolve ang kidnapping. Puro pagnanakaw at pagpapacute lng kasi alam gawin eh.
Tsk tsk tsk
Submitted by sam_juan on Mon, 11/02/2009 - 20:57.Vital clues in video of kidnapped Irish priest: Army
Agence France-Presse | 11/02/2009 3:28 PM
Printer-friendly version | 
Send to friend | 
Share your views
MANILA - The military on Monday said a video released by the kidnappers of an elderly Irish Catholic priest could give them vital clues to his exact location and the identity of his captors.
The video, obtained by reporters at the weekend, showed 79-year-old Father Michael Sinnott making a statement under duress in which he said his kidnappers were demanding $2 million for his freedom.
The video could "determine or confirm the initial information that we have obtained, for example on the identity of the kidnappers and where they are", Armed Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner told reporters.
"There are other clues that we can obtain from the video," Brawner said, a day after the government rejected the ransom demand.
Sinnott, who has a history of heart problems, said in the video he was being held by someone called Abu Jayad.
"We had our intelligence community check this and found out that this person is non-existent," Brawner said. "So we know now for a fact that this is a pseudonym or a code-name being used."
Brawner said the video also showed vegetation that once analysed could pinpoint the location of Sinnott.
Six armed men seized the Irishman on October 11 from the Society of St. Columban's mission house in Pagadian city, on the strife-torn southern island of Mindanao.
He is believed to have been taken to a jungle area in nearby Lanao del Norte province, where Muslim separatist rebels and other armed groups are known to operate.
Authorities have given conflicting statements about Sinnott's captors.
The military said initially that he was being held by a pirate but Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro blamed rogue elements of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
The 12,000-strong MILF, which has been waging a separatist rebellion since 1978 but is now negotiating peace with Manila, has repeatedly denied involvement and has offered help in getting the elderly priest back.
In the video released Saturday, a haggard-looking Sinnott was shown holding an October 22 issue of a newspaper and said he was under trying circumstances. The two-million-dollar ransom demand was rejected by the government and Sinnott's colleagues.
"Paying ransom adds to everyone else's vulnerability. We all become commodities rather than missionaries," head of the Columbans in the country, Father Patrick O'Donoghue, was quoted saying in local newspapers.
Comments