Italian envoy arrives to urge release of hostage priest

(4 Jul 2007)
AP Television
Manila, 5th July 2007
1. Wide of Italian envoy Margherita Boniver arriving at Manila airport
2. Mid of Boniver walking
3. Cutaway to media
4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Margherita Boniver, Italian envoy:
"We don't have any official news regarding the kidnap of Father Bossi and I have been sent here by the Italian Foreign Ministry first of all to say thank you to the Philippine authorities who have collaborated so closely with us so far. And secondly, my reason for coming here is to try to be of help somehow in order to secure as much information as possible on this rather difficult case."
(Q: Are you planning to go to Zamboanga, Sibugay?)
"If the circumstances allow it and, after my meetings here in the capital, I will certainly go to Mindanao."
5. Mid of Boniver with Italian ambassador to the Philippines, Rubens Anma Fidele
6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Rubens Anma Fidele, Italian ambassador to the Philippines:
"The Honourable Boniver is the envoy of the Italian government to coordinate all the actions that can be done together with the Philippine government for the freedom of Father Bossi."
Amateur video
FILE: Zamboanga, date unknown
7. Various of Father Bossi celebrating wedding mass
STORYLINE:
Margherita Boniver the special envoy of the Italian government, arrived in Manila on Thursday, to help work for the release of kidnapped priest Father Giancarlo Bossi.
"We don't have any official news regarding the kidnap of Father Bossi and I have been sent here by the Italian Foreign Ministry first of all to say thank you to the Philippine authorities who have collaborated so closely with us so far," she told reporters.
"And secondly, my reason for coming here is to try to be of help somehow in order to secure as much information as possible on this rather difficult case," said Boniver.
Boniver, a prominent lawmaker and veteran of several humanitarian missions, was sent to the Philippines by Italy's foreign ministry to coordinate all efforts for the release of Father Bossi.
The Philippine military said on Monday that there were strong indications the Italian priest, who was kidnapped by suspected Muslim insurgents last month, was alive and more troops have been deployed to join a massive search.
The 57-year-old missionary from Milan was seized in southern Zamboanga Sibugay province, about 800 kilometres (500 miles) south of Manila, on June 10, while on his way to celebrate Mass.
Hundreds of army troops, backed by military aircraft and sniffer dogs, have been combing thick mountain forests for weeks.
A US spy plane was deployed shortly after the abduction to scour the seas off Zamboanga Sibugay.
Bossi's fellow Italian priests in the southern Philippines from the Rome-based Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions have said they have not been contacted by the abductors.

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