Bossi happy to be back awaits new assignment

MANILA, Philippines – The fate of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) P26.48-billion Cyber Education Project (CEP) now lies in the hands of information communication technology (ICT) experts from the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU), Assistant Secretary Jess Mateo said.

Italian Catholic priest Giancarlo Bossi plans to return to his former parish in Zamboanga-Sibugay province, where Abu Sayyaf terrorists snatched him last year and held him captive in various jungle hideouts for 39 days.

Speaking upon arriving at Ninoy Aquino International Airport yesterday, Bossi said he was awaiting orders from his superior, Fr. Gianbattista Sandalo, regional superior for Southeast Asia of the Pontipicho Instituto Misioni Esteri (PIME) or Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions.

“I am happy to be back,” he told reporters after disembarking from the Philippine Airlines flight from Italy via Hong Kong.

The 57-year-old Bossi waited at the airport conveyor to retrieve his luggage before queuing at the Customs counter without the examiner recognizing him.

After leaving the airport terminal, Bossi immediately boarded a waiting car that took him to an unknown destination.

In Zamboanga-Sibugay province, Senior Superintendent Francisco Cristobal, provincial police commander, said they will secure Bossi if he would be re-assigned to his former parish in Payao town.

However, Cristobal said they are not privy to any information that Bossi would be assigned again to Payao.

“We have yet to discuss with the leadership of the PIME  whether they would be sending back Fr. Bossi to his former parish in Payao,” he said.

“But at any rate we are always ready to accord him the security the same as to all the priests assigned in the province.”

Earlier, Bossi’s superiors said he would be re-assigned in Mindanao.

Bossi returned to the country five months after he went home to Italy following his release from captivity on July 19 last year.

In Rome, Bossi met with Pope Benedict XVI and the Prime Minister of Italy.

He described his audience with the Pope as “something good to remember.”

Ransom for police chief’s cousin

In Tawi-Tawi, the killers of Catholic priest Fr. Jesus Rey Roda demanded yesterday a P1-million ransom for a cousin of provincial police commander Superintendent Wainwright Taup.

Omar Taup, a high school teacher at the Notre Dame of Tabawan in Tawi-Tawi, was taken by Abu Sayyaf terrorists after shooting Roda in cold blood last Jan. 15.

In a statement, Superintendent Taup said Omar Taup is being held captive in one of the Tawi-Tawi islands by the gunmen.

Superintendent Danilo Bacas, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao police spokesman, said the captors of Omar Taup sent a ransom demand to his family and ranking police officials in Tawi-Tawi.

“Our regional director, Chief Superintendent Joel Goltiao, has a strict order not to allow payment of any ransom in exchange for the release of Mr. Taup in keeping with the government’s no-ransom policy in dealing with kidnappers,” he said.

Omar Taup was inside the Notre Dame campus when 10 masked men, armed with assault rifles, attempted to snatch Roda, and killed him when he resisted.

Quoting reports from the Tawi-Tawi police, Bacas said the killers of Roda have been moving from one island to another, taking Omar Taup with them, to avoid detection.

Marines have established a detachment at a strategic spot in one of the Tawi-Tawi islands, home to hundreds of Muslim families and about 500 Christian settlers.

Gunmen snatch businesswoman

In Sulu, suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen snatched a businesswoman Monday in the outskirts of Jolo, according to presidential assistant for Sulu Amilbahar Amilasan.

Police said Maria Rosalie Lao, who belongs to a prominent Tausug-Chinese family in Jolo, was seized outside her home in Barangay Kakuyugan at about 4:45 p.m. Thursday.

She is engaged in buy-and-sell and retail of products, police added. – Edu Punay, Rudy Santos, John Unson, Roel Pareño