ZAMBOANGA CITY — Thirteen days into his kidnapping, Irish missionary Michael Sinnott nor his captors have contacted government authorities as fears for the health of the ailing Columban priest mounts.

Sinnott, who will turn 80 in December, was taken from his home in Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur on October 11 by six gunmen. And he is believed being held hostage in one of the mountainous town of Lanao del Norte, said regional military chief, Marine Major General Benjamin Dolorfino.

Dolorfino, commander of the Western Mindanao command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP-WesMinCom) based in this city said the ailing Sinnott, who had several heart bypass surgeries in the past, needs his medication.

Earlier reports said that Sinnott’s captors had contacted The Missionary Society of St. Columban in Mindanao, but this was denied by Sinnott’s superiors.

The motive of the kidnapping is still unknown and no group has claimed responsibility for it but Dolorfino has tagged a notorious pirate leader Guingona Samal as behind the priest’s kidnapping.

Police also linked Jamat Latip, a commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the kidnapping. The MILF officials has denied the accusation and has joined government troops in the search for the Wexford native, who was on Thursday reported to have died from a heart attack.

Dolorfino said there has been no confirmation about the reports and that the priest is still alive and being held in the hinterlands of Sultan Naga Dimaporo in Lanao del Norte and a known stronghold of MILF.

“As far as we know, Sinnott is still alive and being held hostage in Sultan Naga Dimaporo. We have no reports that the priest had died from a heart attack,” he said.