SAN PEDRO CITY, Laguna—Police found packets of suspected shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) from the house of a man who took his live-in partner hostage in Dasmariñas City in Cavite province on Friday.
The almost four-hour hostage drama ended around noon after the suspect surrendered. No one was hurt in the incident.
Dasmariñas City Mayor Elpidio Barzaga, in a telephone interview, identified the man only by his surname, Jordan.
He said Jordan, a resident of Blessedville Subdivision, a government resettlement area in Barangay (village) Sampaloc II, held his partner hostage using a .45 cal. gun.
“Neighbors said they heard the suspect fire his gun as early as 5 or 6 a.m. Then the live-in partner began screaming for help when she was taken hostage,” said Barzaga, who was on the scene earlier.
Police negotiated for the release of the hostage but Barzaga said it was Jordan’s two sisters who were able to convince him to surrender.
When asked, Barzaga said illegal drugs could have triggered the suspect to take his partner hostage. He said the suspect did not have any particular demands.
Supt. Gil Torralba, city police chief, said they found suspected illegal drugs from the suspect’s home during an inspection. He said they did not find a grenade, contrary to earlier reports that the suspect also held a “bomb.”
Torralba said Jordan was a suspected illegal drug pusher in the community./rga