Robbers pull hostage-taking hoax on victims, cops

Manila policemen were prepared to deal with a possible hostage crisis yesterday afternoon following reports that five women were being held hostage by armed men inside a house in Singalong, Manila yesterday afternoon.

The Manila Police District (MPD) hostage crisis team laid out rescue and negotiation operations, only to find out that the reported hostage-taking was a hoax and the armed men just robbers.

“The situation is simple robbery perpetrated by three armed men who barged into a house and demanded money from its occupants,” MPD director Senior Superintendent Danilo Abarzosa told reporters.

Abarzosa said three men entered a house along Espiritu street in Singalong at around 11:30 a.m and demanded money from Imee Cocjin, 38. When Cocjin told the intruders they had no money, the suspects herded her,  her two daughters Chelsea, 11, and Quennie, 16; and two housemaids into the bathroom and locked the door.

The suspects warned the women that the bathroom door was booby-trapped with a hand grenade that would explode if the door is forced open.

One of Cocjin’s daughters used a cell phone to call their cousin, Septor Laforteza, who lives across the street. It was Laforteza who called the police and reported that the women are being held hostage inside the house.

Operatives of the Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT), anti-bomb personnel and the police hostage crisis team, headed by its negotiator Superintendent Orlando Yebra Jr., cautiously inched their way into the house. For almost two hours the police could only wait for the appearance of the “hostage takers.”

“Our utmost concern is the safety of the house members. We could not barge into the house and risk the lives of the occupants, considering the reports that the hostage takers were armed with grenades and handguns,” Abarzosa explained as to the reason why it took so long for the police to force their way into the house.

Compared to last April’s hostage-taking crisis, policemen established a cordon to ensure that media and civilian onlookers were several meters away from the hostage scene.

The Manila police had just finished a seminar on hostage-taking situations following the hostage-taking of 21 young schoolchildren by daycare center owner Jun Ducat last April 28 near the Manila City Hall.

Claps reverberated in the air after the five “hostages” were seen running out of the house. No grenade was found inside.

Abarzosa said the robbers could have tricked the women into believing that a grenade was placed at the bathroom door.

“The suspects could have already gone out of the house even before the police arrived. There was no hostage taking incident,” he told reporters.

Abarzosa said investigators are still determining the amount of loot taken by the robbers.