MANILA, Philippines - Metro Manila woke up to a bad case of déjà vu Monday morning with television beaming images of a bus at Rizal Park filled with people held hostage by a lone gunman.
 
In March 2007, Armando “Jun” Ducat held hostage 26 students from his own school in Tondo, the Kaluskos Musmos Day Care Center, for 10 hours in a bus parked in front of the Manila City Hall.
 
Three years later, dismissed police officer Rolando Mendoza hijacked a tourist bus in Rizal Park, near the Manila City Hall, with 25 foreigners and Filipinos, demanding his job back.
 
Images of people slowly peeking through the bus window Monday reeked of memories from the 2007 hostage-taking when Ducat demanded free education and better future for his wards as he detained them while he was armed with grenades and guns.
 
Ducat's act sparked a debate on whether his desire for change justified hostage-taking. He was charged with serious illegal detention and illegal possession of firearms and explosives in relation to the Omnibus Election Code gun ban.
 
A year after, Sen. Bong Revilla, in fulfillment of his promise to Ducat during the negotiation in the hostage drama, distributed educational supplies and assistance to schoolchildren enrolled in Ducat’s daycare. He also granted scholarship to 26 of the hostaged students, who were at the time going to elementary school.
 
Revilla also re-filed a pet bill of former Senate Pro-Tempore Juan Flavier that seeks to create the Office of Tanodbata, an independent body which shall be powerful and aggressive enough to initiate investigation and pursue the prosecution, on its own, of any incidence of child abuse, exploitation and discrimination.
 
Ducat served one year and nine months in jail. During his imprisonment, he sponsored several livelihood workshops for inmates. He also contributed to the construction of a small chapel inside the facility and built a basketball court there. He was released from the Manila City Jail on Dec. 24, 2009 after posting a P260,000 bail. – Mitch de Leon, abs-cbnnews.com