COTABATO CITY, 19 December — A Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) official yesterday said kidnapped Catholic priest Giuseppe Pierantoni is still alive, contrary to an earlier report that he has died due to illness.
In an interview with Manila-based DZBB radio station, MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu also said the separatist group had also found that it was actually a small criminal gang that abducted the Italian priest from his parish at Dimalalang in Zamboanga del Sur in October.
Kabalu said the military was wrong in insisting that the kidnappers were from the Pentagon Kidnap for Ransom Group (PKRG) led by a Commander Marohombsar.
Asked if he was ready and willing to cooperate with the military by providing his information to facilitate the rescue operation of the victim, Kabalu said the MILF was not inclined to do so because of the "bad experience" they had with the government in handling kidnapping cases.
He cited the case of another Italian priest, Father Benadette, who was kidnapped in Zamboanga by a former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebel identified as Commander Dasdasan.
Upon the formal request by the government through then peace negotiator Orlando Soriano, the MILF interceded and was able to secure the release of the missionary.
"In fact, I myself, together with then Secretary Roberto Aventajado were personally involved from the very start of the process up to the time of rescue when the victim was picked up sometime in Recodo, Zamboanga City in December 1998.
"This effort by the MILF was never recognized by the government. Instead, the government blamed the MILF for the abduction," Kabalu said, citing then President Joseph Estrada’s 1999 State of the Nation Address when he accused the MILF of the kidnapping.
