An interview with Fr Michael Sinnott

In late November 2009, Columban Fr. Jim Mulroney interviewed Fr. Michael Sinnott following his release after 32 days in the wilderness with his kidnappers.
 
 “I felt anger welling up inside me,” kidnapped Columban missionary priest, Father Mick Sinnott, said in describing how he was dragged at gunpoint from the garden of his home in Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur on the evening of October 11. “And I felt tears coming to my eyes as one of my young captors snatched my watch from my wrist, and I was given a sudden push from the boat into the water when it all ended,” he added, describing the manner in which he was handed over to the top brass of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front one month and a day later, on November 12, at 4:22 a.m. “I then waded through the waist-deep water to the shore, where I could see the three men in white shirts ready to welcome me.”
 
Father Sinnott said he began his eleven hour trek to freedom from the mountain hideout where he had been held for the past 20 or so days in the late afternoon on November 11. “It was torturous. We boarded a small boat,” he said “but changed boats several times along the way. At one stage they cut the engines and paddled and everyone was placed under strict orders of silence, told not to utter one word.” During the black of night he said they eventually entered a small waterway. “I thought it was one of the many tiny inlets that go nowhere, but are good for hiding in,” he went on. “It got narrower and narrower, and the trees joined above our heads. I even asked them how we were gong to get out! But then suddenly, we emerged into open waters and took off across a bay to the meeting point.”
 
He explained that he had been asking his captors if he could have his wallet back, as it contained his driver’s license, identification card and other documents. “It had a few telephone numbers too, that are very important to me,” he went on. “I also noticed the young man eyeing my watch lovingly for a few days, and I made a deal with him that I would give him the watch when I left, in exchange for the wallet.”
 
Surmising that his captors may have feared an ambush, he presumes they wanted to make a quick exit from the scene. “But I was welcomed by the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) negotiators and then walked about 200 metres around the shore to be put into the care of the Philippine military,” he related. From there he was taken to Zamboanga City and flown to Villamor Military Air Base in Manila.
 
He said that he never learned who dragged him away. “But I think if I had not been in the garden they would have come into the house to get me,” he noted. “I was thrown into the back of a small pickup truck and the ribs on my left side are still a bit sore from that.” They also dragged the shirt off his back and blindfolded him, tying his hands, then bundled him into a boat at the shore and took off. “We did not go far,” he said, “then changed to another, faster boat. My final captors think that they may have handed me to another group at that stage as well. But we do not know. The ones who kept me for the rest of the time said they knew nothing about those arrangements, only that they had orders from above to look after me and make sure I was not hurt.” However, Father Sinnott never found out who the above referred to. “But they were not the MILF,” he insists. “I am quite sure of that.”
 
“We spent the first ten days in a swamp,” he said. “We walked a long time through knee-deep water. It was hard going, my feet sank into the gooey mud with each step and I was afraid my sandals would be sucked off. So I carried them and walked in my socks. After that they punched another hole in the strap to make them more secure.” He said they slept in hammocks on a narrow area above the water. “Our hammocks touched each other, there was hardly any room,” he noted, “but luckily they had an endless supply of mosquito repellent,” as they were thick. “After 10 days we moved into the mountains, where there was more room, but I had no idea where we were. They had supplies coming in, they got my medicines and we ate fairly well, but it was monotonous, just bread, sandwich spread and rice. I missed my coffee!”
 
He said that on the first day of his captivity, his captors told him he had been on CNN. “They seemed pleased,” he said, “saying that they wanted publicity about the plight of their people, the lumads (tribal people and original inhabitants of the area), how they had been disposed of their lands and left to live in poverty.” Father Sinnott said that he was not worried about his safety. “My personal guard said to me, “You are my father and I am your son. That is how we will relate,” he said. “I laughed at them when they told me about the two million dollar ransom, but they did not seem to worry. I don’t think they ever expected to get the money.”
He added, “I had no idea about the worldwide publicity surrounding my case and no idea about all the prayers being said and the Save Sinnott Masses. I’m glad someone was praying, as I found it hard to pray. Although I tried a lot, it was just hard. I would say 20 decades of the rosary just to do something and to fill in the empty hours.” He said boredom was a big problem. “I spent long hours just trying to think of things to think about,” he explained, “and a lot of people from the past came into my mind. Especially ones I have lost touch with.”
 
He added that they moved camp a couple of times. “I found the walking tough at my age,” he said. “Sometimes I walked with my arms around the shoulders of two of them and on one occasion they put me in the hammock and slung it on a pole and carried me.”
 
So where to now for the 79-year-old missionary? Father Sinnott said he wants to continue his work for people with special needs at the Hangop Kabataan Foundation in Pagadian. “I think I still have a few good years left in me,” the missionary reflected.
 
Fr. Jim Mulroney lives and works in Hong Kong.