RP Troops Surround Lair Of Italian Priest Kidnappers

ZAMBOANGA SIBUGAY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 16 Jun) – Filipino troops have surrounded a mountain area where Muslim rebels are believed holding a kidnapped Italian Catholic priest in the restive region of Zamboanga, officials said.

Rouge members of the Philippines’ largest Muslim rebel group, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, kidnapped Fr Giancarlo Bossi, of the Pontifical Institute of Foreign Missions (PIME), after celebrating mass June 10 in the village of Bulawan in Zamboanga Sibugay’s Payao town.

The MILF, which is helping Philippine soldiers rescue the missioner, said its fighters destroyed the twin-engine speedboat used by gunmen in spiriting Bossi to a town called Naga, also in Zamboanga.

“Our troops have surrounded the area where the priest is believed being held hostage. We have blockades at sea and on land to prevent the kidnappers from escaping.”

“It is only a matter of time before we can back the Italian priest,” the commander of the Army’s First Infantry Division, Major General Nehemias Pajarito, told the independent regional newspaper, the Mindanao Examiner.

But there were no reports about Bossi’s fate. The MILF is helping Filipino security forces rescue the 57-year old priest.

The MILF forged an agreement in 2004 that paved the way for rebel forces to help government hunt down terrorists and criminal elements in areas where the rebel group is actively operating.

The MILF said it is working closely with the government through the ad-hoc joint action group to track down criminals and terrorists.

A U.S. EP-3 Orion reconnaissance plane is also helping in the search in the mountainous area of Zamboanga Sibugay.

The kidnappers also tried, but failed to hand over the priest to Abu Sayyaf militants whose group is tied to al-Qaeda in Basilan island.

Filipino authorities tagged a rogue MILF leader Akiddin Abdusallam and his brother Waning Abdusallam, in the kidnapping of Bossi, a native of Abbiategrasso region (Lombardy).

In Bossi’s hometown, Italians held a silent torchlight procession and lit candles placed every night on windowsills and pray for his safe return.

A picture of Bossi also hangs from the windows of Rome’s City Hall. Another one is on display in Piazza del Campidoglio, according Saturday to PIME’s online publication, the AsiaNews.

It reported that Rome’s mayor, Walter Veltroni, said that the gesture “expresses Rome’s solidarity and hope that Bossi, who has chosen to dedicate his life to others, may soon be freed.

Fr Davide Sciocco, director of the PIME Missionary Centre in Milan, said the missionaries’ commitment in the Philippines have always pioneered inter-faith dialogue and peace-making.

“Choosing to stay in dangerous areas does not come from some kind of strange impulse but is an act of fidelity and hope for local communities who often live in difficult situations,” he said. (With a report from Joseph Danda)