Check priest’s status, authorities prodded

COTABATO CITY — A leader of the "Pentagon" kidnap-for-ransom gang urged authorities yesterday to verify reports that captive Italian priest Guiseppi Pierantoni might have long died in the hands of his Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) captors.

"The priest is nowhere to be found now in Lanao del Sur. There are persistent stories circulating now that he has died of an illness," said Faisal Marohomsar, who carries a P1-million prize on his head.

Marohomsar, leader of the Pentagon in Lanao del Sur, said he wonders why the police and the military have not been running after Pierantoni’s real captors who, he said, have just been moving from one town to another in Lanao del Sur.

"They have been putting the blame on me when, in fact, they know that in my whole life as a kidnapper, I have not abducted a single priest," Marohomsar said.

He said he and his followers have been receiving persistent feedback since early this month that Pierantoni had died while in captivity.

Marohomsar earlier tagged MILF’s Commander Macaumbao, a foreign-trained guerrilla, as the leader of the group holding the priest captive. — John Unson