“When you go we will be free at last too!” they said after month long ordeal with troublesome priest
From Andrew Drummond, Manila, Friday, 13 2009
Resilient Irish priest Father Michael Sinnott wore down his captors with words of kindness and prayers.
After ten days they gave up their political speeches threw their hands in the air and said: “If you go now we will be free too. We want you to go!”
Instead of a fit young captive who needed little attention they had found themselves nurses to a genial old man who in other circumstances could have been their friend, he said.
Faced with the priest’s refusal to believe in their cause and nonplussed with his gentle manner, they ended up being his caretakers, and praying themselves that no harm would come to the 79-year-old Irish Columban missionary.
The kidnap by a break-away faction of the Moro Islamic National Front in the Southern Philippines ended with his armed guards almost begging the authorities to take Father Sinnott back.
“ They had enough. They all wanted to go home too,” Father Sinnott told the Irish Daily Mail today (Friday) in Manila, “ I guess they had their own families to look after.
“We had started off at loggerheads. They insisted they were freedom fighters and they were original indigenous people, known as Lumad, from Mindanao. They wanted their land back and a state with a constitution which would be the Koran.
“Well, I was having nothing of that blarney. I told them that most of Mindanao was now Christian. And in any case the original indigenous people were neither Christian nor Muslim. Actually Christianity came 200 years to the Philippines after Islam but the majority are now Catholics.
“Really what they really wanted was $2million in ransom. But it did not take them long to give up on that idea.
“For the first week ago there was little love lost. They prayed their way and I prayed mine, staring up to the heavens flat on my back in a hammock as three times a day they faced Mecca. But by the second week we were all praying for each other.
“Forget about the politics, or their crime. These were normal people with families with the same aspirations as anyone. We got to know each other quite well. They were very kind. Beside they may have had trouble on their hands. I was not troublesome. But I took a lot of looking after and they were worried for my health.
“In the end I think they accepted that kidnap was forbidden by the Koran, and they were told that I believe by leaders of the real MILF. But they argued that they had no other way to get funding.
Father Mick’s captivity came to an end on Thursday after representatives of the real Moro Islamic National Front ordered the breakaway group, to hand him back to the authorities. No ransom was paid, but a small gratuity is believed to have given to the small group, as a face saving gesture. It is not thought to have been over $5000.
It was on October 11th Father Sinnott was taking his daily exercise shirtless outside the Columban Mission in Pagadian, southern Mindanao after supper when he heard the sound of rushing feet behind him on the driveway. He was grabbed by three men and a fourth came to face him with a pistol.
The next minute he was bundled into a pick-up truck, known locally as a multi-cab, covered with a blanket and taken down to the shore.
“I know people associate the Southern Philippines with kidnap but I never thought in a million years anyone would come to the Columban Mission and actually do it.
“They put me in a boat and covered me up. Then took me to another and bigger and faster boat and transferred me and put me on the floor of the boat. They handled me roughly and blindfolded me but I could still see which side of the boats the lights were on, so I knew in which general direction we were going and it certainly was not in the direction they were telling me.
“When we put ashore again I had to walk with them for about one and a half hours. It was through stagnant muddy swamp water and we were guided by torchlight.
“When we stopped it was about 6am and getting light. The number of guards had risen now from four to about 8 or 9. I was stuck on a dry mound in the swamp about one metre by three metres.
“Hammocks were put up and I clambered in mine. If I got out one side I would end up in the swamp. On my other side was the guards’ hammock.
“We did not see eye to eye for the first few days. But I took things as they came. They argued about their cause, giving political sermons every day. I was not having any of it but I guess I was good natured about it and they were nice people and eventually stopped and they treated me oh so very well.
“I certainly got the feeling they thought they had got the wrong guy. I’m 79 years old and need taking care of and that’s just what they did.
“Every little thing from helping me fasten my shoes to getting in and out of the hammock, and even moving in my hammock into a comfortable position, which is not so easy for an old man.
“They sent out men to get the provisions and brought for me things like bread and sandwich spread, which together with some of their rice was my daily intake. They also brought mosquito spray which made the swamp tolerable. Who has ever heard of terrorists supplying mosquito spray and sandwich spread?
Father Sinnott had last year been in hospital for a heart operation.
“When I told them I did not have my heart medicine, the medicine arrived at the end of ten days, but I had no trouble in the meantime.
“I even saw their shopping bags which showed they had done their shopping in Cotabato, so I had roughly guessed my location correctly.
“By the end of ten days they had clearly had enough themselves. There was myself and two guards on one mound. Then on another mound a few yards away were another two guards, and a third dry mound was the cooking mound with another three guards.
“The only exercise I got was to jump up and down beside my hammock. The boredom was the worst thing; ten days stuck in a hammock or standing or sitting on a very small dry piece of land.
“I knew my guards by their first names, or nicknames. There was Keekaye, who had five sons and two daughters. But he wished they he had seven sons so they could all be freedom fighters.
“There was Norking, who was just eighteen. He said he would rather fight by the power of a ballpoint pen than a gun. Then there were others called Alex, Jango, Max and Terry.
“In the end they were all on my side and wishing I would go soon. Then on the 11th day I was moved.
“I thought I was moving to freedom. Because by now I was pretty sure I was going to be released.
“At no time apart from at the very beginning when I was roughly treated did I think any harm would come to me. I believe in the power of prayer. I could feel the power of the prayers from people in the Philippines and from back home at the Church of the Assumption in Clonard (Wexford).
“And of course, I was praying myself but I did not find prayers easy.
“When they moved me they took me on another boat ride about eight hours. Again I was in the bottom of the boat. This time they marched me into a jungle area, but I know it was not far from civilization, because often during the day we could hear the sound of people in the jungle cutting away.
“One one occasion they got close, so we had to move further away. But in the jungle life was better. I had a hammock and a tarpaulin, which would protect me from the rain, providing the rain came straight down, which it does not always do.
“They also cut me out a piece of the jungle as an exercise yard. Even before the beginning of November I was sure I was going to be released. But there were a couple of false alarms. I thought I was going to be released on November 4th but that attempt was abandoned because I gather the sea was too rough.
Welcome home shrine for Father Mick in Manila
“I just had to continue the same routine until my release. Up at dawn. Breakfast followed by toiletries. Back to the hammock for prayers. Then onto a wooden log bench, maybe to chat with my captors, as I knew the local dialect. Then in the afternoon back to the hammock to do a few decades of the Rosary. There was nothing to read. No radio. We all just wanted to go home.
“When eventually my release came after being taken eight hours by boat to Zamboanga I was surprised at all the attention I received. I knew lots of people were involved in the negotiations for my release, my fellow fathers, the Philippines Red Cross, the Government and Army, and the MILF themselves, not forgetting all those who prayed from me. I want to thank them all. God Bless you.”
Father Michael, or Father Mick, as he is known, received a special welcome back home in the Philippines capital of Manila.
Father Mick (right) with Father Pat O'Donaghue in Manila
At the Columban Centre in Ermita, Father Pat Don O’Donaghue, who flew to the southern Philippines to assist in the rescue said: “ Father Mick is dearly loved here. He looks after over 60 disabled kids in the mission in Pagadian and is a leading member of the local inter-faith forum.
So while he was away not only were prayers being said in the Catholic and Christian churches worldwide, but prayers were being said in the local Catholic churches, the local Mosque and prayers were being said by the local tribal people.
“He is a remarkable and well-loved man. He was my tutor in fact he has been the tutor to most of the Columban fathers in the Philippines”.