Cops rescue girl from hostage-taker in 30 minutes
MANILA, Philippines - It took only more than 30 minutes for policemen to rescue a 7-year-old girl from a hostage-taker in Mariveles town, Bataan province on Wednesday night.
Senior Superintendent Arnold Gunacao, Bataan provincial police director, said hostage-taker Remegio Ladag of Calbayug City barged into a house in Barangay Dos at 9:55 p.m. and snatched Anarie Pascual.
Armed with a knife, Ladag then ran to another the house of his employer, 60-year-old Gloria Casaba Estido, and demanded to talk to his cousin, Police Officer 3 Joselito Abelarde of the Maritime Group.
Gunacao said first responders from the Mariveles Municipal Police Station immediately cordoned the area after receiving report of the hostage-taking incident.
He said Abelarde was immediately fetched from his base in Barangay Sisiman to talk to his cousin.
"Negotiations were made and at 10:30 p.m., Remegio peacefully surrendered to police," Gunacao said in a text message to media.
The provincial police was able to immediately form a crisis management group after receiving a report about the incident.
The incident happened more than 2 weeks after the hostage crisis in Manila's Rizal Park, where a dismissed policeman held more than 20 Hong Kong tourist for at least 12 hours in a tourist bus.
The crisis ended in a bloodbath, with the hostage-taker and 8 tourists dead. -- with a report from Noel Alamar, radio dzMM
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Sana Headline nyo ito!
This is good things that happened pero hindi naka-headline, BAKIT PO?
Lessons learned.
Even if this one had to take many hours, it would be OK.
The point is that nobody was hurt. It did not have to involve any special force, the Governor, nor the President.
This incident may be relatively simple but it pays for authorities to know how things were handled in detail in this case and be recorded for reference. I hope this is part of their SOP already.