Kidnappers reduce starving priest's ransom

BY ADAM EASTON AND CLAIRE WALLERSTEIN IN MANILA
AN ITALIAN PRIEST kidnapped by Muslim guerrillas in the Philippines has gone on hunger strike in a bid to force his captors to end his six-week ordeal.
The drastic move by Fr Luciano Benedetti, 52, this week led his captors to slash their ransom demand from about $2 million to a small sixfigure sum, according to government sources.
Wahab Akbar, provincial governor on the island of Mindanao, where the priest is held, said recent heavy rains had also made life very difficult at the jungle hide-out of the kidnappers. believed to be disgruntled members of the Moro National Liberation Front, which signed a peace deal with the government in 1996. Many of the former rebels have denounced the government for failing to honour its promises of financial assistance and land deals for the Muslim community.
Mr Akbar said: "The conscience of the kidnappers is being disturbed, so this means that they will lower and lower their ransom.
"They don't want him to die because they are looking for money."
Mr Akbar said that it was known that Fr Benedetti was "exhausted" by his constant movement from hideout to hideout President Joseph Estrada said on national television last week that the security forces had located the kidnappers, but had not attempted to rescue the priest because they did not wish to endanger his life.
The Philippine government. the Catholic Church and the Italian government have refused to pay any ransom. although the Roman Catholic Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions has said it may consider paying a lesser amount.
Fr Benedetti, who has been a missionary in the country for 10 years, was kidnapped in Zamboanaga del Norte, 800Ian south-east of Manila, on September 8. Twelve parishioners kidnapped with him were later released.