Giancarlo Bossi will not testify if and when suspects are arrested. Superiors of Bossi, 57, and the priest himself have expressed reluctance to testify against those involved in the nearly six-week kidnapping of the priest, which ended July 19.
"It’s unfortunate to hear that Father Bossi’s superior won’t allow him to testify," Ricardo Cabaron, Western Mindanao state prosecutor, said. "It’s unfortunate to hear that Father Bossi’s superior won’t allow him to testify." But he said the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, where Bossi works, "is bound by the law.”
Bossi was abducted June 10 on his way to Sunday Mass and held for 39 days in the jungles along the border of southern Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur provinced by suspected "rogue members" of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a rebel group engaged in peace talks with the government, officials said.
RETURNING TO ITALY
Bossi has said he will return to Italy next month for a few months rest but intends to return
to the Philippines to continue his missionary work. Bossi is also due to meet pope Benedict XVI
in Italy. "Bossi is an Italian priest and he is here in our country as a guest, and as a guest he should submit to the laws of his host country, and he cannot set conditions [for] himself," Cabaron said.
Earlier, Priest Gianni Sandalo, PIME regional superior, said Bossi was interested in testifying against his kidnappers but added that doing so is "no longer part of the priest’s mission." "We can do that, alright, but as much as possible, we want to leave this kind of case to the government," Sandalo added.
Sandalo said it was the same stand taken by PIME when Priest Luciano Benedetti was kidnapped in 1998. He said Benedetti later decided not to pursue the case against his capturers, "because according to Luciano, his capturers were young people, and at that age, they did not know what they were doing."
"POOR FISHERMEN"
Explaining why he did not want Bossi to pursue the charges against the kidnappers, Sandalo
said they were poor fishermen. "His captors were poor fishermen [who were] just following orders from big people and at any [rate], we don’t really have [any] idea as to who the mastermind behind his kidnapping [was]. It will not be that fair," Sandalo said.
"Bossi could provide us clear picture as he had been in captivity for 39 days and he alone could provide us the circumstances with his captors," Cabaron added.
The kidnappings have underscored concerns about the safety of missionaries in the Philippines.
