Cebu girl, 7, held hostage

CEBU CITY, Philippines  – Police rescued an eight-year-old girl who was held hostage by a 25-year-old laborer believed to be suffering from depression in Barangay Apas here yesterday morning.

The hostage crisis lasted for almost two hours and Cebu City police chief Melvin Ramon Buenafe himself undertook the negotiations until suspect Paul Guigue gave in and released the girl.

According to neighbors, the girl, a Grade 2 pupil at the Barrio Luz Elementary School, was playing outside her house when Guigue, wielding a pair of scissors and an improvised ice pick, suddenly grabbed her.

Police arrived and surrounded Guigue. Buenafe later arrived and handled the negotiations.

Guigue later told reporters that he took the girl hostage because someone was trying to kill him and his family, adding though that he had no intentions of killing the girl.

Guigue admitted that he sniffed solvent and drank liquor when he was still in his hometown of Panglao in Bohol.

Buenafe said they would subject Guigue to psychiatric evaluation first before deciding on filing charges against him. – Freeman News Service