THE Department of Foreign Affairs has discounted speculation that kidnapped Irish priest Fr Michael Sinnott has died in captivity.A department spokesman said it has been assured by the Philippine government that rumours surrounding the fate of Fr Sinnott have not been verified.
The Philippine government yesterday announced a reward for information to help locate Fr Sinnott, contradicting earlier claims by the military that it knows his location.
The reward of 200,000 pesos (€3,500) was offered amid growing concern for the health of Fr Sinnott, 79, who needs daily medication for heart problems.
"This is the 12th day and we do not have any contacts yet with the abductors nor do we have any word from them," said Alan Molde, spokesman of the task force handling the abduction. Sketches of the kidnappers, based on witness accounts, are being circulated.
Department officials are in constant contact with the authorities in the Philippines, who are insisting that the rumours of Fr Sinnott’s death are unsubstantiated.
Ireland’s ambassador to Singapore Richard O’Brien who travelled to Manila last week in the wake of the kidnapping, is remaining in the Philippines to monitor the situation.
The Columban Missionaries also dismissed speculation that Fr Sinnott, who is from Barntown in Co Wexford, had died in captivity.
A spokesman for the Philippines royal family said it was aware of the reports that Fr Sinnott had died in the hands of his captors, who are believed to be renegade members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
At a press briefing, press secretary Cerge Remonde admitted that the palace has no knowledge of the priest’s condition, but hoped rumours of his death are not true.
"Let us all pray that by the grace of God Fr Sinnott is still alive," he said. "Up to now there is no actual confirmation on the condition of our beloved Columban priest," he told reporters.
Fr Sinnott was kidnapped from his home in the city of Pagadian by an armed gang earlier this month. The cleric was taken away by speedboat after being abducted from his gated compound in Pagadian City on the island of Mindanao on October 11.
Meanwhile, a public rally is to be held today in the Philippines demanding Fr Sinnott’s release. Fr Pat O’Donoghue, regional director of the Columban Fathers in Asia, said more than 1,000 people were expected to take to the city’s streets.
"The march will go down to the place by the sea where Fr Sinnott is supposed to have been put on the boat and taken," Fr O’Donoghue said.
"There is an expectation that people from many of the parishes around the diocese may come and join this as their way of trying to express their upset at his abduction but also their plea that he would be released and released very quickly."
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