Teen girl hurt in hostage drama to undergo surgery

The 13-year-old girl, who was wounded when a policeman shot dead a ship crewman who held her hostage, is scheduled to undergo a surgery next month.

The girl’s father confirmed in an interview yesterday at the Chong Hua Hospital that a bullet is still embedded in the girl’s left cheek.

“If the swelling subsides, she will go through a surgery,” the girl’s 33-year-old father said in Tagalog.

The family is from Antique province.

The girl was held hostage by Andrew Lendio, 32, inside MV Filipinas Cebu of the Cokaliong Shipping Lines last Wednesday evening.

The hostage drama ended when SPO4 Rogelio Cañete shot Lendio in the head.

The girl was first brought to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center before she was transferred to the Chong Hua Hospital on Thursday.

The girl’s father said the doctors have allowed her to go home but has to return to the hospital after three days so she could be operated on.

“The travel would be difficult since ours is distant from here and that the road heading towards our home is rough. The wound might be infected,” said the girl’s father, who added they may have to stay in Cebo to wait for the operation to proceed.

The girl is unable to eat or talk and would sometimes cry from the pain, the father said.

The father said he is thankful that his daughter was able to survive the horrendous experience.

“If not for the policeman, my daughter would have been killed,” he said.

The girl, a Grade 7 student scholar, is the eldest of three children.

The father hopes that the shipping company would continue to help the child’s medical expenses.

“I pity her. I did not expect that to happen to her. We just hope that the Cokaliong management would continue to support her for a fast recovery,” he said.