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Published on July 8, 2007

"His fellow priests said he lost lots of weight, and his beard is different from the time when he was kidnapped," Boniver said.

Claretian priest Angel Calvo, a close friend of the kidnapped missionary, shared with the Inquirer two of the four photos that he got from another source. Calvo stressed that the photos did not come from Bossi's captors.

"It's indeed Bossi," Calvo said of the photos.

Calvo sent the photos to the Inquirer via Bluetooth while he was in a closed-door meeting with Boniver and police and military officials involved in the search for the missing priest.

But how he got the photos is another story.

Calvo said he obtained the four pictures on Thursday from a person who came from Barangay Bohe Bessey in Akbar town, Basilan.

On that same morning, Calvo sent an SMS to the Inquirer asking about updates on the Bossi kidnapping.

When told about an encounter between government forces and Abu Sayyaf bandits in the same village, Calvo sent this message: "Funny, I had somebody who came to me from that place claiming to know someone who has evidence but he is asking for money. Today he is going to Manila."

On Friday at noon, Calvo told the Inquirer that the man from Akbar town had gone to him claiming proof that Bossi is alive, "but he is asking for 100,000 [pesos, nearly Bt74,000]".

Calvo refused to identify the person.

With the reported encounter between government soldiers and Abu Sayyaf bandits the day before, the Inquirer called Brigadier General Ramiro Alivio, commander of the 1st Marine Brigade, to check whether he received information about emissaries bringing some sort of "proof of life".

But Alivio said that in Basilan there were "many people mushrooming now, pretending to be informants, claiming to have in possession proof of life in exchange for cash".

Senior Superintendent Francisco Cristobal, police chief of Zamboanga Sibugay, agreed that a lot of people "were providing information about sightings and leads, but nothing substantial so far".

Philippine Daily Inquirer

Asia News Network

ZAMBOANGA CITY