Pagadian City, Philippines - Hundreds of additional police forces were deployed in the southern Philippines to join the search for a kidnapped Irish Catholic priest, a police task force commander said Wednesday. About 300 police officers were deployed in the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur, where Columban missionary Michael Sinnott was believed to be held by his kidnappers, Senior Superintendent Francisco Cristobal said.
Cristobal said the additional forces would lead law enforcement operations against the kidnappers, who have demanded 2 million dollars for the hostage's freedom.
Sinnott, 79, was seized by unidentified gunmen on October 11 inside the Columban Mission House in Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur province, 890 kilometres south of Manila.
Last week, the kidnappers released a video of Sinnott to prove he was still alive. In the video, Sinnott, who underwent a quadruple heart bypass in 2005, appealed to the Philippine and Irish governments to secure his immediate release.
Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno pointed to a commander of the Muslim secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) as the one behind the kidnapping.
But the MILF, which has been engaged in peace negotiations with the government since 1997, denied the accusation.
Sinnott was first assigned to the southern region of Mindanao in 1957 but left the country in 1966. He returned in 1976 and in 1998 established a school in Pagadian City.
