Police rescue 2-year old boy held hostage on a bus in Albay

A plainclothes policeman holds on to a half-naked Bayani Dalanon Yutiga after he reportedly held a two-year-old boy hostage on a bus in Oas, Albay, on Monday. The boy was released safe and Yutiga was detained at the Oas town jail. MICHAEL JAUCIAN / INQUIRER SOUTHERN LUZON

OAS, Albay, Philippines — Police rescued a 2-year-old boy from a man who held him hostage for eight hours inside a passenger bus here before dawn Monday.

Chief Supt. Melvin Buenafe, Bicol regional police director, said the suspect, Bayani Dalanon Yutiga, 48, of Milagros town in Masbate province, grabbed the sleeping boy, who was seated next to him, while their Sorsogon-bound bus was traveling along the national highway in Barangay Ilaor at about 12:30 a.m.

The child’s mother said that before Yutiga took her son hostage, the man told her that he had a family problem.

“He said he wanted to go home to Milagros, Masbate, because he would like to seek advice from relatives,” she told the INQUIRER.

Buenafe said the negotiation took about eight hours to ensure that the boy and Yutiga were safe.

He said Yutiga, who was armed with a piece of hard plastic fashioned like a knife demanded  a gun and a vehicle.

Buenafe said policemen grabbed the boy from Yutiga when his attention was diverted during the negotiation.

Yutiga is detained at the Oas police station./rga