Man takes son hostage in Navotas

A KNIFE-WIELDING man caused quite a scene in a neighborhood in Navotas City on Saturday night when he briefly held his 11-month-old son hostage.

Allan Salazar, 32, was desperate to get his family back after his marriage turned sour, prompting him to take such a drastic move, Senior Superintendent Bernard Tambaoan, the city’s police chief, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer Sunday.

The hostage-taking happened at the corner of M. Naval and Lacson Streets in front of a car shop in Barangay (village) NBBN, Navotas City at around 8 p.m. on Saturday.

It ended 30 minutes later with no one getting hurt, Tambaoan said.

According to the initial police investigation, Elvira – the hostage taker’s wife –immediately sought the help of the police after Salazar, who she recently separated from, took their son away from her at her parents’ house in Tondo, Manila.

Police Officer 3 Arlene Alvero, officer-in-charge of the Navotas’ Women and Children’s desk, said Salazar told his wife that he would kill the baby and then himself if she would not go back to him.

“Do you want this to be bloody?” Alvero quoted him as telling Elvira.

The police followed Salazar and later found him inside a car in Barangay NBBN, pointing a kitchen knife at the baby.

Appeals from outsiders

“The police and the barangay watchmen  asked [him] to give them the child unharmed and reminded him [that] it was his son whom he was putting in danger,” Alvero said.

Salazar, however, refused as he told the authorities that since “his wife was leaving them anyway,” their lives no longer mattered.

When he put down the baby and the knife to start the car’s engine, a policeman identified as PO2 Generoso Gagabica grabbed the opportunity to get inside the vehicle and cuff him.

Other policemen grabbed the baby from the father who, according to police, was not under the influence of liquor but was merely feeling despondent over the loss of his family.

Police said the baby was turned over to his mother unscathed.

Salazar, however, was taken into police custody and is now detained at the Navotas police station pending the filing of charges against him today, Tambaoan said.