President Arroyo orders task force formed to pursue abductors

PAGADIAN CITY - Friends of a 78-year-old Irish priest kidnapped by suspected Islamic militants in the the city made emotional appeals Monday for his quick release, saying he may not survive the ordeal.

Six gunmen snatched Michael Sinnott, a well-loved cleric who came to the Philippines more than 50 years ago, on Sunday night at his home near Pagadian City, authorities said.

"I am concerned about his safety. I am calling on his captors to free him. Please do not hurt him," pleaded Pagadian City Archbishop Emmanuel Cabajar.

He said Sinnott's physical condition had been fragile since undergoing heart bypass surgery last year.

While nobody has claimed responsibility for the abduction, authorities said they suspected either the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, which has a history of kidnappings, or the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front were involved.

"We are not discounting the involvement of the Abu Sayyaf and other groups, including the MILF," Pagadian police head Chief Inspector Michael Palermo told Agence France-Presse.

"A combined police and military operation has been launched."

In Manila, President Arroyo ordered police to form a special task force to go after the kidnappers, her spokesman Cerge Remonde said after the initial search had begun.

"The president strongly condemns the kidnapping," Remonde told reporters.

Virgina Pestanas, a staff at the priest's foundation, paid tribute to Sinnott's work in the southern Philippines and also said she feared for his life given his poor health.

"On behalf of the foundation, I am pleading on his captors to free him because he has a very weak heart," Pestanas said.

"He has dedicated his life to our people. He always helped the poor and the needy children."

Described by his staff as "jolly", Sinnott first came to the southern Philippines in 1954 and founded an organisation that helps provide medical care for disabled children in 1998.

Sinnott was forcibly dragged away at gunpoint and transferred to a waiting van, which was subsequently found abandoned and torched near a coastal area, police said.

A witness, Marieta Burok, said the priest was then beaten up and transferred to a small motorised boat wearing only jogging pants.

"His front and back were bloodied," Burok said.

The military reported the boat sped away from Zamboanga del Sur province towards open seas in the direction of a MILF stronghold in neighbouring Lanao del Norte province.

The Irish embassy in Manila was not immediately available for comment.

Sinnott's abduction comes nine months after the Abu Sayyaf snatched three Red Cross workers on the island of Jolo, also in the southern Philippines.

The trio -- a Swiss, an Italian and a Filipina -- were freed one after the other in a hostage crisis that stretched on for six months.

The military has also blamed the group for the abduction of Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi in a town near Pagadian in 2007. He was held for more than a month before being freed, allegedly after the payment of ransom.

In 2001 and 1998, the Abu Sayyaf kidnapped priests Giuseppe Pierantoni and Luciano Benedetti. They were freed after the payment of ransoms, the military said, although this was denied by the victims.

The group also seized three Americans along with a group of Filipino tourists from an island resort in 2001. One of the Americans was beheaded while another was killed in a military rescue.

The Abu Sayyaf was established in the early 1990s, allegedly with seed money from Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, to fight for a Muslim state in the southern Philippines' Mindanao region.

The MILF has been waging a separatist rebellion in Mindanao since 1978. Peace talks with the group have been on hold since last year.