Manila rejects rebels' offer to help free priest

MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines rejected an offer by the country's largest Muslim rebel group to help free an Irish Catholic priest held on a southern island, the interior secretary said on Tuesday, adding the offer may jeopardise peace talks.

Ronaldo Puno also barred local authorities and police from contacting the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), saying the kidnappers of Irish priest Michael Sinnott "have direct or close association" with the rebels.

Philippine authorities were unhappy that the rebels had asked for permission to deploy about 100 of their fighters in the area where Sinnott is believed to be being held.

"If they have influence over this people, we don't understand why they need a company-sized group to go in there," Puno told reporters.

"Although we welcome and appreciate the efforts of the MILF to participate in the release of Sinnott, we believe it should be within the confines of the agreements that the MILF had forged with the government."

Puno said the government wanted to avoid any complication that might jeopardise the resumption of formal talks between the rebels and Manila to end 40 years of conflict that has killed 120,000 people and displaced 2 million.

Puno reiterated the government's stand that it would not pay any ransom to free the Irish missionary, taken at gunpoint while walking at a church garden in Pagadian City on Oct. 11. He was later taken to nearby coastal areas in Lanao province on the southern island of Mindanao.

The missionary's kidnappers have demanded a ransom of $2 million.

Any attempt to rescue Sinnott would be a police action, with the military taking a support role, Puno said.