2 dead in Navotas hostage drama

A 37-year-old man, just three days out of jail on drug abuse charges, stabbed dead a nine-year-old hostage while adrift on a banca in the middle of the river yesterday in Navotas.

Superintendent Billy Beltran, Navotas police chief, said his men pumped four bullets into suspect Bonifacio Francisco’s chest after seeing him stabbing his hostage several times.

Hostage Rachel Valeriano of Tuazon Street, San Jose, Navotas was taken to the Tondo General Hospital where she was declared dead on arrival by attending physician Dr. Edwin Vizmonte. She succumbed to several stab wounds in the right side of her body.

Francisco alias "Boy Banlag," a known addict in the neighborhood, has been reported in and out of jail on drug charges.

Police reports showed that at around 1 p.m., Francisco, who was high on shabu and armed with two kitchen knives, started running amuck.

"Armed with kitchen knives, he chased anyone on the street for no apparent reason," officer-on-case PO3 Noel Banares said.

Barangay tanods reportedly tried to pacify Francisco, but instead he grabbed Valeriano and took her hostage.

Francisco dragged her into a banca along Tabing-Ilog near her residence and paddled toward midstream.

Relatives and barangay watchmen followed in another boat trying to persuade the suspect to release the victim but to no avail.

"We have tried all possible means to convince him to release the girl, but we failed," Banares added.

Upon seeing uniformed policemen coming to the girl’s rescue, Francisco allegedly went into a stabbing frenzy before the horrified relatives of Valeriano and the public gathering on the riverbank.

At this juncture, police opened fire hitting the suspect several times in the chest.

The victim sustained multiple stab wounds in the neck and in the back of her body, Banares added.

"When he started stabbing the hostage, we had no other recourse but to shoot him," Banares said.

Police later towed the assailant’s boat to shore where irate witnesses hit the dying suspect in the head and body. His body was later taken to the Thaddean Funeral parlor for autopsy. – Jerry Botial, Pete Laude