P100,000 reward up for info on kidnapped Italian

MANILA, Philippines - The local government of Dipolog City is offering P100,000 for any information leading to the whereabouts of kidnapped former Italian missionary Rolando del Torchio.

Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesman Chief Supt. Wilben Mayor yesterday said the reward money was offered by the city government while a massive search and rescue operation by the police was underway.

Mayor said two of the gunmen who snatched the retired priest have been identified through a closed circuit television camera video clip taken inside the victim’s pizza restaurant last Wednesday.

Mayor, however, declined to reveal the identities of the suspects.

Sources, however, revealed the kidnappers are led by Saher Muloc, alias Commander Red Eye, the alleged chief of the Provincial Police Force of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s 113th Base Command operating in the towns of Lanao del Norte.

Muloc and his son Julmin, a suspected trafficker of drugs, were among the 10 gunmen identified in the video, sources said.

The getaway vehicle, a silver metallic Mitsubishi Versa van with license plate TMY 490 that was recovered by police, was registered in the name of Amante Bagain Sagario, of Lot 6, BB Katipunan Village, Taguig City.

Sources said the kidnappers are former Muslim rebels linked to various criminal activities, including drug trafficking and kidnapping in the Zamboanga peninsula.

As of yesterday, the kidnappers and their victims are believed to be in hiding in mainland Zamboanga to evade government troops.

Security forces searched land and sea but were unable to find any sign of the former Italian missionary and his captors.

“There are no sightings yet of the whereabouts of the victim, but we are gathering all the leads that will help us track down and rescue the victim the soonest possible time,” regional police director Chief Supt. Miguel Antonio said yesterday.

Antonio said they are gathering all leads in tracking the kidnappers.

At least 10 men, some armed with rifles, dragged Del Torchio from his pizza restaurant into a van then fled in motorboats.

The incident occurred after two Canadian tourists, a Norwegian and a Filipino woman were kidnapped last month from a resort on Samal Island in Davao del Norte. There has been no trace of the four and there had been no contact with the kidnappers.

Antonio said the same of the kidnappers of Del Torchio.

The only evidence so far is the getaway van abandoned by the kidnappers, recovered hours after the snatch.

Police are also focusing on CCTV footage of some of the gunmen that could help identify them. It showed the Italian, lying on the floor, being dragged away by the kidnappers, who held him by the feet.

Del Torchio had previously been targeted by kidnappers when he spent five years in Sibuco town, south of Dipolog. He was a missionary priest with the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) there in the 1990s before he left the priesthood, police said.

Del Torchio’s compatriot and former supervisor Fr. Sebastiano d’Ambra said ransom could be the motive in the kidnapping.

D’Ambra, a missionary of PIME, said they heard many angles were being considered by authorities but the major reason could be to raise money.

“Of course there are different angles, some people say it is time where some people look for money and it is easy money to get foreigners,” D’Ambra said.

He said they were aware the Italian embassy had exerted efforts in securing the safe release of the victim.

He said their embassy was also worried and advised them to take extra precautions and stay vigilant.

The PIME said money might have been the reason for the abduction.  – With Jaime Laude, Roel Pareño, Evelyn Macairan