MANILA/ZAMBOANGA CITY, 14 June 2005 — The Roman Catholic archbishop of Manila yesterday cautioned against attributing any religious motives to the abduction of Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi in the troubled southern Philippines region, calling it a criminal act.
In an attempt to prevent recriminations between Muslims and Christians, Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales said the words “Muslim” and “Islam” should not be used to describe the gunmen.
“Religion has nothing to do with this, at least as far as we can see it at the moment,” he told journalists in Manila. “And if ever those kidnappers did it, no matter what their religion is, they were doing it as criminals.”
The 57-year-old Giancarlo Bossi of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions was taken at gunpoint by unidentified men on June 10 after celebrating mass in the remote coastal village of Bulawan in Payao town, Zamboanga Sibugay province.
Police, military and leaders of the largest Muslim separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), have pointed to a group of alleged affiliates of the Abu Sayyaf group as the culprits.
But the chief suspect in the kidnapping has denied involvement, said Maj. Gen. Nehemias Pajarito, in-charge of rescue operations. “Akiddin Abdusallam says he is not involved in any way. His claim is being investigated,” said the commander of the army’s First Infantry Division.
The MILF has disowned Akiddin’s band, which it said had long been outlawed by the separatists group for engaging in criminal activities. An MILF official had earlier said the group was tied to the militant Abu Sayyaf group.
Mohagher Iqbal, the MILF’s chief peace negotiator, said his group was involved in the search for the kidnappers.
As troops faced a blank wall in their searched for the priest, Roman Catholic and Muslim religious leaders appealed to the captors to free the victim urgently.
Muslim leaders condemned the kidnapping as a “dastardly act against the morality of Islam.”
Sultan Maguid Maruhom, head of a Muslim non-governmental organization involved in an inter-faith dialogue with Christian groups, said the kidnapping could affect ongoing peace negotiations between the MILF and the government.
“All of these efforts are threatened by this single despicable act of abduction of an innocent religious man who has not wronged anybody else,” Maruhom said in a statement. “We appeal to the perpetrators of this crime to immediately release Father Bossi unharmed.”
Zamboanga Sibugay police chief Francisco Cristobal confirmed that Bossi was “well-respected and well-loved” in the community, and residents in Payao were angered by the abduction “but do not show it.” “We are conducting continuous search and rescue operations,” he said, adding that military helicopters were on standby to support police and soldiers looking for the priest. Cristobal said they were following up on certain “targets” but declined to elaborate.
Military spokesman Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said additional troops were deployed to the area, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) south of Manila, but did not say how many soldiers were involved. He said they were backed by naval and coast guard vessels.
US forces on counterterrorism training exercises in the south have deployed a surveillance aircraft to scour the seas because of the possibility Bossi that could have been taken farther south to Jolo island, a lair of the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, Ermita earlier said. (With input by agencies)
