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By Katrice R. Jalbuena, Reporter
The owner of a day-care center in
Tondo held hostage a busload of children from the school for
nine-and-a-half hours, demanding that the government provide housing
and a college education for them.
The standoff ended after Amadeo
Ducat, who runs the Musmos Day Care Center in Parola, released the
32 children, aged 5 to 6, unharmed, and surrendered to the police.
The children were taken to the
Ospital ng Maynila after they were freed a few minutes past 7 p.m.
Ducat and four other men in the bus were detained at the Manila
Police District headquarters.
Two of the men were believed to
be Ducat’s companions, while the other two were teachers
accompanying the children on what was supposed to be a field trip to
Tagaytay City.
The drama began about 9:15 a.m.,
when Ducat and his companions told the bus driver Diogracias Bogarin
to park the vehicle in front of the Bonifacio Shrine beside the
Manila City Hall. He then pulled out two grenades and an Uzi machine
gun and declared a hostage taking.
Negotiators tried to talk with
Ducat, but he warned them not to get near the bus.
Toward noon he allowed Sen. Ramon
“Bong” Revilla Jr., who said Ducat was his compadre, arrived. He
and Ducat talked inside the bus for several minutes after which
Ducat released Zynhon Irish Pacheco, a boy who was feverish.
“He does not want to harm the
children,” Revilla said later. “He told me that he merely wants
to draw attention to their plight and to make sure that they receive
what they need to have a better life.”
The Musmos Day Care Center
reportedly has 145 scholars who Ducat puts through primary education
with his own money.
Adrian Ducat, the
hostage-taker’s nephew, said: “He is not seriously going to hurt
the children. He is a kind man who helps many people—not just
children—in Parola.”
A negotiating team made up of
Senior Supt. Danilo Abarzosa, the Manila police chief, Department
of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Esperanza Cabral and
Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Bayani Fernando
continued talking to Ducat through the afternoon.
“We want this to end
peacefully,” Abarzosa said. “He has said that he does not want
to hurt the children and neither do we. That is the last thing
anyone wants to see happen We are giving him time to air his
grievances and we hope that he will decide to end this soon.”
The standoff tied up afternoon
traffic throughout Manila as police cordoned off the street running
along the shrine and diverted vehicles.
At one point authorities provided
Ducat with a portable sound system through which addressed the
media.
“I am doing this for the
children. I am not a bad person. I want the people to wake up,”
Ducat said.
He said he has seven children of
my own “and I want to come out of this alive because I know that
my children still need me.”
Cabral said President Arroyo had
instructed her to give Ducat what he requested. “President Arroyo
has told me that the first priority is the safety of the
children.”
At the end of the afternoon, Gov.
Luis “Chavit” Singson of Ilocos Sur was seen entering the bus.
The arrival of the administration senatorial candidate surprised
reporters because he was not a relative or associate of Ducat.
At around 6, word spread that
Ducat was willing to surrender if he was given a final chance to
address the crowd after a short candle-lighting ceremony in front of
the shrine.
Just before 7, Ducat spoke
through the sound system, asking forgiveness from the police, the
parents and the children for the duress he put them under.
Then he opened the doors of the
bus and allowed police and government officials in. The ordeal was
over.
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