October 19, 2009, GMA News, 10:11 PM, Fr. Sinnott being held in Lanao provinces - AFP,

October 19, 2009, GMA News, 10:11 PM, Fr. Sinnott being held in Lanao provinces - AFP,

Military intelligence reports are pointing to the Lanao provinces as the area where Irish priest Fr. Michael Sinnott is being kept by his abductors, a military official said on Monday.

In a press briefing, Armed Forces public affairs office chief Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner said there are strong indications that Sinnott, 79, is still being held in the forested boundaries of Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte a week after his abduction in Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur.

“The effort of the military now is in intelligence gathering and cordon operations, which involve checkpoint operations. Our troops are pre-positioned so that in case the Crisis Management Committee authorize a rescue operation, we are already in the general area," he said.

Col. Benito de Leon, commander of the 104th Brigade, said his men are on the ground to verify if Sinnott and his kidnappers are at the boundary of the Lanao provinces, a bailiwick of the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Brawner however said they are not dismissing reports that Sinnott was brought by his kidnappers in Zamboanga del Norte and Basilan.

“What we are doing now is that we are trying to verify all these reports because the reports are contradicting," he said.

Meanwhile, calls for the immediate and safe release of Sinnott continue to grow.

“For humanitarian reasons, I am appealing to the abductors of Father Sinnott to immediately set him free. They should have pity on him considering his very frail health condition," said Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr.

Sinnott was reportedly recuperating from a heart bypass operation when kidnapped last Oct. 11 in Columban House in Gates District.

Pimentel, who is from Mindanao, said the abduction has only exacerbated the troubles in the region at a time when the government and the MILF are trying to restart the peace talks.

Over the weekend, residents of Pagadian City hung streamersaround the city calling for the missionary’s release. The Pagadian diocese has also started communal and individual prayers to implore God’s help for his freedom. - with Amita Legaspi, GMANews.TV