Guard takes girlfriend hostage

MANILA, Philippines - A security guard, reportedly high on drugs, held his girlfriend hostage in his house and threatened to kill everyone in sight in Binondo, Manila yesterday.

Police managed to convince Eduard Aradella, 27, to release his girlfriend, identified only as Ana, 24, and surrender peacefully three hours after he took her hostage.

Eduard’s mother, Ofelia, said she scolded her son at around 1 p.m. because he had not been sleeping for several days and had complained of hallucinations due to his constant use of illegal drugs.

“Suddenly he started cursing and shouting that he did not do anything. He said somebody wanted to kill him. He took all the keys and padlocked the house so that no one could leave,” Ofelia said.

She said Eduard pulled his girlfriend into the bathroom, choked her and locked her inside.

Ofelia found a duplicate key to the main door and managed to escape, while his father, William suffered wounds on his hands.

She said her son had been acting strangely after his partner left him for another man and took their six-year-old daughter with her. She said that last October, he learned that his former partner had a child by her new lover.