BANDITS WILL GAIN NOTHING FROM PRIEST'S ABDUCTION - PIMENTEL

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today denounced the abduction of Irish priest Michael Sinnot by a suspected Muslim rebel "lost command" as he warned that this would only derail efforts to pursue the peace process.

Pimentel said the purported band of bandits will gain nothing from abducting Fr. Sinnot because the Columbian Missionaries, to whom he belongs, do not have the means to pay ransom money to them.

He expressed outrage why the sickly 79-year old priest, who has committed no wrongdoing against Filipinos, was targeted for kidnapping. Noting that the hostage is just recovering from a recent heart by-pass, the senator said that his life would be placed in extreme danger if he fails take his maintenance drugs.

"Why are they doing this to him? If he is deprived of medication, he may die in their hands," the senator from Mindanao said.

"For humanitarian reasons, I am appealing to the abductors of Fr. Sinnot to immediately set him free. They should have pity on him considering his very frail health condition."

Pimentel said the string of abductions has only exacerbated the troubles in Muslim Mindanao at a time when the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front are trying to restart the peace talks after a hiatus of more the one year.

Fr. Sinnot, who has lived in the Philippines for 40 years, was snatched from his home in Pagadian on October 11 by suspected Islamic extremists. The Armed Forces of the Philippines reported that he and his captors were spotted in a forested area between Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur.

The AFP said it received information that Commander Jamat Latip of the MILF Lost Command was behind the latest abduction and that this is part of group's fund-raising activities.

The MILF leadership has denied any involvement in the kidnapping but said it has dispatched a team to Lanao del Norte to verify if Latip has perpetrated the Sinnot abduction.

Meanwhile, Pimentel said the future of the peace talks remains uncertain as he noted that Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Avelino Razon has resigned. Razon was replaced by Atty. Nabil Tan.

He said the government must exhaust all efforts to pursue the negotiation, maintain the mutual ceasefire and forge a peace agreement to bring about lasting peace and stability and put an end to the sufferings of the people in conflict areas in Mindanao.

Because of the ongoing armed conflict, Pimentel deplored that about 90,000 displaced persons could not go back to their homes and farms and are still staying in various evacuation centers including 30,000 in Marawi City, 30,000 in Cotabato and 30,000 in other places.

"But untoward incidents like the Sinnot abduction are making it more difficult to continue the search for peace in Mindanao," he said.

Moreover, he decried the government's failure to offer the Federalism proposal during the peace negotiation which is strongly favored by Muslim political and rebel leaders because it is perceived as the ultimate legal response to the clamor of Muslim Filipinos for genuine autonomy.