Pierantoni clams up on release

Apparently fed up with the controversy accompanying his release by his kidnappers, Italian priest Giuseppe Pierantoni clammed up yesterday, refusing to talk to reporters.

A colleague at the Sacred Heart Congregation in Parañaque City identified only as Fr. John quoted Pierantoni as saying he got wind of negotiations for his release as early as three weeks ago, but admitted he did not see any money changing hands.

Pierantoni also reportedly revealed that he was forced by his captors to write a ransom note.

The 45-year-old native of Bologna, Italy said earlier his kidnappers, who introduced themselves as Abu Sayyaf fighters, said they captured him because they needed ransom money to buy more firearms for their struggle for an independent Islamic state in Mindanao. Authorities maintained, however, that Pierantoni’s abductors were members of the Pentagon kidnap gang composed mostly of former Muslim rebels.

Chief Superintendent Jaime Caringal, deputy director of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Intelligence Group which conducted a debriefing on Pierantoni, said the priest recalled that his captors acquired cellular phones and transistor radios about two months after his abduction.

"He knew that his captors were always on the phone talking to some people. But there was nothing about ransom. We have not arrived at the point when he was rescued.

Pierantoni also indicated that at least three armed groups were involved in his ordeal from the time of his capture up to his release.

Meanwhile, the PNP gained an unlikely ally in the Catholic hierarchy which bolstered the police’s claim that the Italian priest was "rescued."

"The Catholic bishops join the Sacred Heart Fathers in thanking President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for the bloodless rescue of Father Giuseppe Pierantoni," Davao Archbishop Fernando Capalla said.

Capalla also expressed "deepest gratitude" to PNP chief Director General Leandro Mendoza for directly supervising the safe rescue of Pirantoni without any money changing hands in adherence to the government’s no-ransom policy.

"The ransom-free and encounter-free operation was narrated to me by General Mendoza himself last Monday evening. In the late afternoon of the same day, Father Pierantoni also told me he did not notice any movements of people that would appear like negotiation for money or ransom," Capalla said in a press statement handed out to reporters in Camp Crame yesterday.

It may be recalled, however, that Mendoza said that Pierantoni was found by elements of the elite Special Action Force of the PNP at about 3 a.m. in Upper Tungawan town in Zamboanga del Sur.

Pierantoni said his captors abandoned him at a roadside after a 12-hour trek through dense forest.

He later said a car picked him up and brought him to a place where policemen and soldiers led by Mendoza and Presidential Adviser on Special Concerns Norberto Gonzales were already waiting for him.

PNP spokesman Senior Superintendent Leonardo Espina said Pierantoni was the 10th kidnap victim rescued by the police from the Pentagon gang and other kidnap-for-ransom groups operating in Mindanao.

Espina said during the last four months of continuing police operations, 13 suspected kidnappers were killed while 37 other suspects were captured.

Espina said the rescue of Pierantoni on Monday was preceded by at least 15 police operations, some of which resulted in a shoot-out with the suspects.

Mendoza announced earlier that a major offensive was underway against the Pentagon gang in Central and Western Mindanao under the command of National Anti-Kidnapping Task Force chief for Mindanao Deputy Director Edgar Galvante.

The Pentagon gang is still holding Korean Jae Keon Yoon who was seized in Sultan Kudarat last Feb. 6 with his Filipino companion, hotel owner Carlos Belonio of General Santos City.

RP becoming another Afghanistan–Padilla

An opposition leader in the House of Representatives warned yesterday that the buildup of American forces in the Philippines might turn the country into another Afghanistan.

"I hope it is not what I fear," House Minority Leader Carlos Padilla (LDP, Nueva Vizcaya) told reporters in Baguio City.

Padilla was referring to the forthcoming arrival here of 2,665 US troops for another joint military exercise at Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija.

The annual maneuvers, dubbed Balikatan 2002, will also involved 2,900 Filipino soldiers.

Padilla said the exercises may just be the start of more Us forces coming to the Philippines under the pretext of fighting terrorism.

"If it is for terrorism, I agree that they should be here," the legislator said.

He expressed belief, however, that the Filipino soldiers were more capable in resolving the armed conflict in Mindanao.

"Although the Americans have the technology, our soldiers are more equipped mentally, psychologically and they know the terrain there," Padilla added.

He urged the Arroyo administration to be more transparent and tell if more military exercises will be conducted in the country, adding this may violate the Constitution.

Army Col. Horacio Lactao, co-director of the forthcoming Balikatan in Luzon, said American material and equipment needed in the exercise will be flown in within the next two weeks.–Christina Mendez, Artemio Dumlao