Hostage drama in Pasig ends

MANILA, Philippines—After an almost five-hour standoff, a man who took hostage his mother, nephews, niece and housemaids peacefully surrendered to the Pasig police Friday night.

Hostage taker Emerson Go, 31, surrendered to the Pasig police after hours of negotiation and holding hostage his 66-year-old mother, Mildred, his two nephews aged eight and five years old, a four-year-old niece, and two of their housemaids inside the family-owned St. Gabriel International School along Sandoval Avenue in Barangay Palatiw, Pasig City.

Chief Inspector Renato Castillo of the Pasig Police said that Go surrendered after talking to a negotiator.

“He has talked to a negotiator and has stood down. The suspect surrendered and released the hostages, who are now in a safe condition. There were no injuries,” Castillo said in a radio interview.

Senior Inspector Rodrigo de Dios, head of the investigation section of the Pasig Police, earlier said that Go was armed with two handguns when the incident was first reported to the police at around 2:40 p.m. on Friday afternoon.

Before he surrendered, Go freed one of the two housemaids. He turned over to the police the firearms he used in the incident.

De Dios said that Go’s initial demand was that his wife and three children, who live in New Manila, Quezon City and have yet to be identified by the police, be brought to him in Pasig.

However, Castillo said that after talking to a negotiator, who was Go’s friend, he agreed to surrender without any further incident.

The police were investigating serious problems with Go’s wife and family as the motive behind the hostage incident.