Aldwin Quitasol
BAGUIO CITY– A broken-hearted security guard took hostage the sister and niece of his ex-lover inside a residence in this city Saturday late afternoon.
The suspect’s identity was withheld by the police since one of the victims is a minor related to his live-in partner.
He used the 9mm service pistol given to him by his security agency as a weapon.
After more than four hours of negotiation, he released the victim and surrendered. Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalon gwas one of those who spoke with the hostage-taker.
What’s the story of the security guard?
Station Commander Police Major Dencio Dayao of the Baguio City Police Office. (BCPO) station 1 said an inconsolable heartbreak triggered the security guard to use force.
“The live-in partner of the guard left him for another man,” Dayao said.
His hostages are the sister and the niece of his live-in partner.
The police said the security demanded that his live-in partner return to him in exchange for the release of mother and daughter hostages.
The negotiation
The Baguio City Police and its Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT), the neighbors and later the barangay officials of Quezon Hill Proper Barangay trooped to the site. The barangay captain engaged the hostage taker into a negotiation.
Hours later, Mayor Magalong arrived at the scene and started to talk with the security guard.
Magalong, a former chief of PNP-Criminal Investigation Detection Group (CIDG), said he convinced the security guard to let go of his obsession to get back to her estranged lover.
The guard released the hostages at around 10:40 PM, without any condition. He then surrendered at past 11 PM.
“Pseudo-hostage”
According to Magalong, the incident is called a pseudo-hostage taking where the hostage -taker vent out his emotions because of what happened between him and his partner.
In pseudo-hostage cases, there is a low risk of harm to the hostages. Such incidents generally end when the hostage takers make no demands and they have no history of threats against or conflict with the hostages.
The security guard is now under police custody while the hostages are safe.
