Negotiations ongoing at Pampanga jail standoff

MANILA, Philippines—Authorities were negotiating with a prisoner at the Pampanga Provincial Jail in San Fernando, Pampanga who, armed with a bladed weapon, took hostage another inmate Friday morning.

Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr., spokesperson of the Philippine National Police, identified the suspect as 34-year-old Wilfredo Lorilla, who took hostage three fellow prisoners.

Region 3 police director Chief Superintendent Edgardo Ladao said police suspected Lorilla to be “mentally deranged”, adding that the he could have acted aggressively after not receiving visits from his relatives for some time.

Cruz said initial reports reaching him indicated that Lorilla thought one of the inmates at the detention facility wanted to kill him.

Officers of the Pampanga provincial police and a Special Weapons and Tactics unit have been dispatched to the area to assist the jail warden in the negotiations, said the PNP spokesman.