MANILA: Hopes remain high that abducted Irish priest Michael Sinnott is alive, according to a member of a government task force dealing with his abduction.

There are reports that backdoor negotiations are being conducted by certain groups to secure the safe release of the Irish missionary, who has been on regular medication since undergoing open-heart surgery in 2005.

The task force member, who requested anonymity, said that before negotiations can take place, the kidnappers “should have Sinnott talk so everyone will know he is still alive. There should be proof of life first before anything else.”

“How could an honest-to-goodness negotiation start if there’s no proof of life? The kidnappers should know this,” he added.

On the other hand, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has formed its own Task Force Sinnott to help secure the missionary’s release.

The MILF leaders, who went to Dublin, Ireland in the middle of this year in a bid to adapt elements of the Irish Republican Army-United Kingdom peace pact to the Mindanao peace talks, are also under pressure to search for Sinnott.

There are reports that rogue MILF members are behind the abduction of Sinnott, who was snatched by six armed men while on an evening stroll at the garden of the Columban Missionary Halfway House in Pagadian City on October 11.

MILF public affairs chief Eid Kabalu has denied the reports and volunteered to send in their forces to track down the kidnappers.

But the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) advised the MILF not to send in armed troops to areas where Sinnott was last sighted as the move might result in a misencounter.

“What they can do is to identify the kidnappers, convince them to release Fr. Sinnott, take him and turn him over to the authorities,” said AFP public information office chief Lt-Colonel Romeo Brawner.