AFTER the hostage-taking in Lapu-Lapu City last Tuesday, another father held his two children at knife-point in Barangay Manatad, Sibonga, Cebu at 8 a.m. yesterday.
The negotiation for the safe release of the children, a boy and a girl, though, did not take long as the father let his children go shortly after the police team arrived.
Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) Director Erson Digal said the children’s mother sought the assistance of Manatad Barangay Captain Leodegario Mestallos in calling the police.
(Sun.Star Cebu is withholding the names of the parents to protect the identities of the children).
The father, who is reportedly suffering from a mental disorder, took his children to his side while pointing a knife at them for no reason.
A team from the Sibonga Police Station led by SP02 Charlene Banogon went to the house and asked him to release the children.
The father is temporarily under the custody of the police.
He will be brought today to the psychiatric ward of Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City.
Meanwhile, Dionilo Salvador, the man who held his three children hostage, for failure of the victims’ mother to return his P30,000, walked out of the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office detention cell yesterday. He reached a settlement with the mother in the presence of Acting City Police Director Mariano Natuel and officers of the Women and Children’s Desk.
Mimi Acawayan won’t press charges against Salvador, provided that the latter will go back to his hometown, Pagadian City, and will no longer set foot in Cebu. She will pay him the P30,000 on installment basis and send the money through his bank.
Natuel said Salvador, who tied the children using a nylon cord and pointed a knife at them, is supposed to face a charge of illegal detention.
However, the settlement that Salvador and Acawayan signed before him and other witnesses said she waived her right to press charges unless Salvador violates the agreement.
When Natuel negotiated with Salvador during the hostage drama that lasted nearly two hours in Barangay Punta Engaño, the police chief convinced Salvador to surrender by assuring him that he won’t be charged for the crime he committed.