ZAMBOANGA CITY, 18 June 2007 — The Italian priest who was seized by a kidnap gang in the southern Philippines on June 10 may be freed very soon, officials said yesterday.
An official of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said their fighters who are helping in rescue efforts have sealed a mountain hideout where the hostage is being held and that the kidnappers were ordered to free their captive unharmed or face assault.
“Our fighters are getting ready to storm the kidnappers’ hideout if the priest is not freed,” said one rebel leader, who asked not to be named.
Fr. Giancarlo Bossi, a member of the Pontifical Institute of Foreign Missions (PIME), was kidnapped at gunpoint June 10 in the coastal town of Payao in Zamboanga Sibugay province.
Government troops working hand-in-hand with MILF fighters were able to pinpoint the place where the bandits believed to be led by Akiddin Abdusallam are keeping their victim.
There have been no reports so far about Bossi’s fate.
Police said Abdusallam is the deputy commander of an MILF unit operating in Zamboanga Sibugay.
But the MILF, which is currently negotiating peace with the government, said the gang leader has long been wanted because of his criminal activities and that he has joined the Abu Sayyaf group.
Rebel forces also put up a blockade in the neighboring province of Lanao del Norte to prevent the kidnappers from escaping with their hostage.
MILF soldiers have earlier destroyed the twin-engine speedboat used by gunmen in taking Bossi to Naga town.
Maj. Gen. Nehemias Pajarito, commander of the army’s First Infantry Division, said his troops have also been deployed to block possible escape routes of the kidnappers.
“It is only a matter of time before we can get back the Italian priest,” he said.
The separatist group has signed an agreement in 2004 to cooperate with the military in police in the campaign against criminality or banditry in places considered as MILF territory.
A US EP-3 Orion reconnaissance plane is also helping in the search in the mountainous area of Zamboanga Sibugay.
