Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- A 79-year-old Irish priest freed today a month after he was kidnapped in the southern Philippines said he was “never mistreated” by his captors and wants to return to work as soon as possible.

“Conditions were very primitive,” Michael Sinnott told reporters in the capital, Manila, where he was flown to meet with President Gloria Arroyo. “They couldn’t have done more to make them as easy as possible. They were very kind to me.”

Sinnott, who has worked in the Philippines for decades with the Columban Missionaries, was abducted by armed men on Oct. 11 while taking an evening stroll in his garden in Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur province. The separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which is active in the region, said it secured the priest’s release from a group of bandits.

Kidnappings are common in the southern Philippines, which is home to the al-Qaeda-linked militant group Abu Sayyaf and several Muslim rebel groups. Philippine authorities this week accused Abu Sayyaf militants of beheading a school principal, who was abducted on the island of Jolo last month.

Sinnott, who suffers from a heart condition, said he was fed sandwiches twice a day filled with a spread “ordered up specially for me.”

Dressed in a yellow and black checked shirt, khakis and black sandals, the priest said he found hiking through the jungle with his captors difficult and that he doubted they would try to kidnap him again.

Back to Work

“They might kidnap a younger man the next time,” he told reporters at the Air Force base in Manila, where he was welcomed by Arroyo and the Irish ambassador. “My own hope is to go back to Pagadian, that’s where my work is.”

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front applied “moral force” on the kidnappers to free Sinnott, Mohagher Iqbal, the group’s chief peace negotiator, said in a telephone interview today, adding the bandits were led by a man called Commander Inggo.

The Philippine military said last month that Inggo, an alleged pirate whose real name is Guingona Samal, was an accomplice in the kidnapping and the priest was whisked away in his high-powered boat.

The abductors took Sinnott to an area dominated by MILF rebels so they couldn’t be reached by troops and demanded a $2 million ransom, according to the military.

Sinnott said he believed he was kidnapped by a Pagadian- based group and then handed over to a “lost command,” a term the military uses to refer to breakaway MILF units. “It was not MILF, I’m very sure of that,” he said.

No Ransom Paid

Ireland’s Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said he was “delighted and relieved” at Sinnott’s release. No ransom was paid by the Irish government, he said in an e-mailed statement.

Martin said Sinnott’s release was the result of a “major diplomatic effort” by the Irish and Philippine governments and he thanked the European Union, the U.S. and the International Committee of the Red Cross for their support.

“It has been a tough 32 days for everybody concerned, but particularly so for those who were waiting anxiously at the end of the phone for news of their loved one,” he said.

Abu Sayyaf abducted three Red Cross workers on the island of Jolo 10 months ago. They were released separately during a six-month period. The group was also blamed for kidnapping Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi, who was held for more than a month in 2007.

The U.S. has troops in the southern Philippines helping with counterterrorism and the issue will be on the agenda when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives in the country today for talks with Arroyo, according to the State Department.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ed Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net; Francisco Alcuaz Jr. in Manila at falcuaz@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 11, 2009 23:42 EST