MANILA - A 79-year-old Irish Roman Catholic priest, abducted in the Philippines a month ago, was freed yesterday, even though the kidnappers' US$2 million ($2.7 million) ransom demand was not paid.
The kidnappers wanted the Philippines and Ireland to pay the money.
Reverend Michael Sinnott said he was not harmed, but complained of arduous journeys as kidnappers took him by sea and through jungles to evade government troops.
"I was treated well. Once I had been kidnapped and brought to the boat, that was very rough," he told Manila's ABS-CBN television from a military camp in southern Zamboanga city.
He said he was not angry with the kidnappers.
"They gave me lectures on their ideology, but apart from that, they treated me well."
Irish President Mary McAleese called Sinnott's freedom the answer to the shared prayers of millions in both countries.
"He is clearly a man of great resilience, strength and courage, and we wish him well as he seeks to recover from such a trying ordeal," McAleese said.
Six armed men abducted Sinnott on October 11 from his missionary home on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao.
Officials feared he would suffer a fatal heart attack, because he was still recovering from heart-bypass surgery.
Philippine security officials blamed the kidnapping on the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a separatist group that has fought for decades for Muslim self-rule in the predominantly Catholic country.
The rebels denied involvement.
Rebel leader Mohagher Iqbal said his group applied "pressure and our moral authority" on the kidnappers to release Sinnott.
At least two other Irish Catholic priests have been targeted by kidnappers in the southern Philippines.
In 1987, a priest was held for 12 days by Islamic militants before being released unharmed, but four years later another priest was shot dead when he resisted his abductors.
- AP
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