Hostage-taker’s bad acting fails to impress cops

If there was an award for worst actor in a hostage-taking situation, it would probably go to Jony Orteza, a 31-year-old construction worker who tried to win his former girlfriend back by threatening her with a 20-inch bolo Tuesday.

When members of the Pasig City police who responded to a concerned citizen’s tip about an ongoing hostage taking inside a house rushed to the scene around midnight, Orteza tried to throw them off his scent by pretending to be asleep.

His ruse would have worked, too, if not for the fact that beside him on the bed was the 20-inch bolo he had used to threaten his former girlfriend, Marlene Brazan, 25.

Superintendent Alfredo Calama-an, Pasig police chief, told the Inquirer that charges of grave threats and illegal possession of a bladed weapon were being  prepared against Orteza who failed to put one over the police with his bad acting.

According to Calama-an, they received information around midnight yesterday that a man was holding his former girlfriend hostage because she had refused to reconcile with him.

But when policemen got to the scene of the hostage-taking—a room Orteza was renting inside a house on Chico Street in Barangay Sta. Rosa—the door remained locked despite repeated knocks.

As a result, members of the Special Weapons and Tactics team were forced to break it down to get inside the room.

“He (Orteza) was lying on the bed, his eyes closed. But the weapon was right beside him so that of course didn’t work,” Calama-an said.

His ex-girlfriend, who worked as a maid for the owners of the house, later told investigators that around 10 p.m., Orteza suddenly barged into her room and threatened to hurt her if she did not get back with him.

The two broke up in 2010 but Orteza did not give up the room he was renting.

She said he only stopped threatening her when he saw the police team through an open window. At that point, he went back to his room and pretended to be asleep.