Ex-cop takes lover, family hostage in Pasig

MANILA, Philippines - Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams from the Eastern Police District (EPD) and the Pasig City police responded yesterday to a reported hostage-taking involving a former policeman at a posh subdivision, but found that the alleged hostage-taker had fled just before the lawmen arrived.

Police said they did rescue one of the “hostages” – a three-year-old girl who was left on her own at a condominium unit at the Valle Verde 1 subdivision occupied by her mother, Rowena Magora Sanchez, and her alleged live-in partner, Frederick Tolentino. The girl is now under the custody of the women and children’s desk of the Pasig City police.

EPD director Chief Superintendent Francisco Manalo said they will invite for questioning lawyer Oscar Barias and Sanchez to shed light to the incident.

Manalo said it was Barias who allegedly called up PNP (Philippine National Police) Patrol hotline 117 to report that his client, Sanchez, was being held hostage by Tolentino, a dismissed Manila policeman, at Unit 429 Chateau Verde at about 10 a.m. yesterday.

Barias claimed that Tolentino had reportedly been holding Sanchez and her children for two days already. The report was forwarded to the PNP’s Tactical Operations Center, which in turn relayed it to Manalo.

To prevent another bungled handling of a hostage-taking situation, Manalo personally led heavily-armed SWAT units of the EPD and the Pasig City police and rushed to the place.

Manalo formed a team of negotiators, who approached the condominium unit and knocked repeatedly while pleading for at least an hour for those inside to open the door. When there was no response, Manalo ordered a search for a duplicate key and the door was opened.

What greeted the SWAT teams was not a “hostage taker” but the girl, who was left alone in the unit. Initial investigation showed that Tolentino and Sanchez left the house before the police arrived. Police have yet to determine whether Sanchez left willingly.

According to a security guard, Sanchez and Tolentino have been quarreling frequently the past months, and Tolentino would draw a gun and hold the woman and her children hostage on several occasions.

But after several minutes of “negotiations,” Tolentino would release his “hostages,” the security guard claimed.

Residents of the area have petitioned the couple to leave the place but Sanchez prevailed upon them and negotiated that only Tolentino be banned from the condominium building.

However, Tolentino managed to slip in and out of the building as the guards stood helpless because he was always carrying a handgun, the security guard said.