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THE
military is seriously looking into reports that Italian
priest Giancarlo Bossi may have been taken to the island
province of Basilan by his kidnappers who may have
escaped the tight cordon put up by soldiers around the
provinces of Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur.
The
belief was strengthened by the pronouncement of National
Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, officer in charge of
the Defense department, that the abductors of Bossi were
possibly Abu Sayyaf bandits.
The
statement came as Marines, who are conducting operations
in Basilan, supposedly in support of the effort to free
the kidnapped priest in Lanao provinces, encountered a
group of Abu Sayyaf just before the weekend, killing two
bandits.
Col.
Alivio Ramiro, commander of the 1st Marine Brigade
deployed in Basilan, said the Marines were validating
reports about Bossi’s possible presence in the province,
which he said keep coming.
“We have
been receiving reports about it, and all those reports
were being verified. But in the absence of first-hand
information, we will treat them as ordinary reports
subject to validation,” he said.
Ramiro
supports the belief of his military superiors that Bossi
is still in the Lanao area.
Both
Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., Armed Forces chief of
staff, and Maj. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino, chairman of the
government’s Ad Hoc Joint Action Group with the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front, maintained that the kidnap
victim is being held in an area located at the boundary
of the two Lanao provinces.
The
area, they said has been cordoned off by policemen, a
Scout Ranger company and an Army battalion. Two MILF
brigades also were used to augment the soldiers, but
they have since pulled out.
Bossi
was kidnapped on June 10 by more than 15 armed men and
they were last seen traveling on foot with their victim
somewhere in Lanao.
In
Cotabato City, authorities named a former mayor of
Tuburan, Basilan, as the source of the recent
photographs of abducted Italian priest Fr. Giancarlo
Bossi that surfaced late last week.
A
military officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity,
said former Tuburan mayor Hajarun Jamiri is the source
of Bossi’s latest photographs.
The
officer could not say if the mayor will be investigated.
“His
name came out in the monitoring of the kidnapping. Maybe
the photographs were forwarded to him or he managed to
get the pictures in an actual meeting with the
kidnappers,” the source said.
On
Saturday, the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions
(Pime) posted on its web site photographs of Bossi, who
was shown wearing the same clothes he had on, when he
was abducted on June 10 in Payao, Zamboanga Sibugay.
Reached
for comment, Chief Supt. Joel Goltiao, Autonomous Region
in Muslim Mindanao police commander, said all
information, including the source of photographs, will
be handled by Task Force Bossi.
There
are reports that Bossi is being held in remote areas of
Sultan Naga Dimaporo in Lanao del Norte but other
reports say that he had been taken to Lanao del Sur.
Pime
will hold an international day of prayer for Bossi on
Tuesday “for abundant courage, hope and patience not
only for Bossi but also for his abductors in the hope
that God will touch their hearts and they will repent.”
The Pime
superior general, Fr. Gian Battista Zanchi, called for
the holding of the international day of prayer in a
letter to the missionaries of the institute spread
throughout the world.
He
invited the various Pime communities in
Asia, Africa,
America,
Europe and
Oceania to gather for a “special day of intense prayer” for Father
Bossi. |
