Missionary's release sparks Church row

By CLAIRE WALLERSTEIN IN MANILA
A RELIGIOUS ROW is brewing in the Philippines following the kidnap and highly controversial release of a Belgian missionary, who was set free after government officials abducted members of the kidnapper's own family.
Fr Bernard "Ben" Maes, 53, was abducted at gunpoint on November 18 by Muslim rebels in the southern island of Mindanao shortly after leaving a party celebrating the release of their previous victim, Irish missionary Mgr Desmond Hartford.
Mgr Hartford had been held captive for 10 days but released following the intervention of President Fidel Ramos.
The men behind both abductions were former memebers of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), which signed an amnesty with the government a year ago. They claimed the government had failed to release funds pledged to them for livelihood projects.
Fr Maes was bundled, struggling at gunpoint, into a red Toyota car in front of St Mary's church in Marawi, a staunchly Muslim city. His companion, Fr Chito Yanoc of the Marawi parish church, was left watching helplessly as the car sped away. A member of the order of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, Fr Maes is a native of Roeselaere in Belgium, but has been assistant priest of Balabagan in the province of Lanao del Sur.
He was the 67th kidnap victim in Mindanao this year, and the rebels had threatened to kill him within two days if the funds were not forthcoming.
However, they were given a taste of their own medicine when Mayor Basman Abas of Marawi resorted to "eye-for-an-eye" tactics, ordering his men to seize the family of Makil Mama, easily identified as head of the kidnap gang after appearing on local television to air his demands. Fr Maes was released after just two days, and Mayor Abas said he "expected to be given a plaque of recognition" for the success of his unorthodox methods.
The Church did not share his views, however.
A horrified Mgr Pedro Quitorio of the Bishops' Conference of the Philippines said he hoped the "callous" mayor would be tried for kidnapping along with those who seized Fr Maes.
He said: "Kidnapping for any objective is a crime. How can a government official be proud of committing a crime to solve criminality?" The Bishops' Conference went further in its condemnation, issuing a statement accusing thenational government of deliberately failing to contain the country's spiralling kidnap problem over 300 this year in order to be able to declare a state of emergency and call off next year's elections.
Mgr Quitorio said: "We really smell something fishy over the government's inaction to contain the series of kidnapping and lawlessness in Mindanao."
The President's office branded the Church conspiracy theory "the product of a wild imagination" and begged for unity among all Filipinos, whether Christian or not.