In a text message, Senior Superintendent Joselito Esquivel, the Cavite police director, identified the hostage-taker as a certain William “Bayani” Villanueva, a resident of Barangay (village) Binakayan.
He said Villanueva, armed with a bladed weapon, has been holding eight-year-old Clyde Ivan Reyes, also a resident of the village, hostage since about 5 p.m.
The hostage-taker is not related to the victim, according to Esquivel.
“(Villanueva) just went inside (the victim’s) house and was saying he had not slept for four days,” he said in a text message.
Negotiation for the release of the child has been ongoing, as of this post, he said.