ZAMBOANGA CITY—Government forces tracking down the kidnappers of Italian priest Fr. Giancarlo Bossi in Zamboanga Sibugay have enlisted the help fo several individuals who could help in the early recovery of the hostage.

Maj. Gen. Nehemias Pajarito, commander of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division, said military and police authorities are tapping all available resources to recover Bossi soonest.

“We invited several people not for questioning, but to enlist their help in the early recovery of the victim,” Pajarito said.

“Okay, thanks for coming,” this reporter heard Pajarito telling some of those invited when he called on the general for interview.

Bossi, 57, was seized by at least 10 gunmen, some of whom are wearing bonnets, on June 10 in barangay Hilal while on his way to celebrate Sunday Mass in the nearby village of Bulawan, Payao, Zamboanga Sibugay.

No group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and no ransom demand has been made.

Maj. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino, head of the government contingent to the government-Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (Ahjag), said his counterparts in the MILF told him that Bossi’s abduction will be resolved soon.

Dolorfino said MILF representatives to the Ahjag, who are helping the government locate Bossi have identified a place in Naga town, where the captive is being hidden.

The MILF members discovered and destroyed the twin-engine motorized banca that was used in the abduction of Bossi to prevent the abductors from using it again.

Fr. Sebastiano D’Ambra said there will be a prayer-rally Monday in Ipil town, that will attended by “my superior,” Fr. Giani Sandalo; Zamboanga Archbishop Romulo Valles and other Church leaders of this city and Zamboanga Sibugay.

D’Ambra, a member of the Pontificio Instituto Missioni Estere like Bossi, said there is no communication yet between the religious order and the abductors as of press time.

D’Ambra said the military and police authorities have rescue plans but added that he was not privy to the details.

The Bishop-Ulama Council of the Philippines (BUCP) will also work for the early release of Bossi, according to Ustadz Shariff Moshin Julabbi.

Julabbi said the BUCP condemns the abduction of Bossi, saying “no one has the right to abduct or hurt other people especially the innocent ones.”

CABANATUAN CITY—The National Police is not discounting the possibility that politics is behind the killing of Lupao, Nueva Ecija mayor-elect and his cousin, who is the vice mayor-elect in a cockpit in San Jose City, on Friday night.

THE militant party-list group Bayan Muna called on President Arroyo on Sunday to order the immediate arrest of a member of a vigilante group who allegedly shot dead its secretary-general in Bohol before the weekend.

FORMER Navy lieutenant senior grade Antonio Trillanes IV should get used to the idea that he may not be able to attend even a single session of the Senate in his six-year term as a senator, a military lawyer said on Sunday.

ZAMBOANGA CITY—Government forces tracking down the kidnappers of Italian priest Fr. Giancarlo Bossi in Zamboanga Sibugay have enlisted the help fo several individuals who could help in the early recovery of the hostage.

THE Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and its president, Winston Garcia, on Thursday filed a complaint for libel against Lakas Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr. of Manila for allegedly claiming that GSIS funds were being used to bribe congressmen to support the speakership bid of Cebu congressman-elect Pablo Garcia.

DAVAO CITY—There was no ominous sign, nothing unusual as Rusty Antelino, 31, left his house in Kidapawan City, North Cotabato, for  work as a bus conductor of Weena Express 1104 that Friday afternoon.