Thursday, November 22, 2007 Liloan pa holds infant hostage
A 43-year-old father held his two-day-old son hostage for more than an hour early morning yesterday and threatened to drop him from the first floor of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC).
Edito Patiño, a fisherman from Barangay Cotcot in the northern town of Liloan, Cebu, reportedly resorted to taking his son hostage out of desperation. He didn’t know where to find money to pay for his wife’s hospital bills.
Patiño only yielded after the arrival of an ABS-CBN TV crew and gave his son to Police Inspector Boni-facio Garciano, who dressed up as a member of the hospital staff.
Garciano led a team from the Fuente Osmeña police station to the hospital after receiving a call for assistance at 12:50 a.m. yesterday. The caller said a man wanted to drop his baby from a windown on the VSMMC’s firs level, which is 20-foot high.
While suspending his baby in the air, Patiño reportedly kept on demanding that reporters come over to cover the event.
Hospital administration then allowed an ABS-CBN television crew led by reporter Ramil Ayuman to enter the hospital.
The negotiation lasted until 2 a.m.
According to an ABS-CBN TV-Patrol report, Patiño said he no longer knew what to do after his wife told him to find money to pay for the hospital bills.
His wife, Alicia, delivered their baby by caesarian section last Monday.
Patiño was initially detained at the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) stockade.
At 1 p.m., SPO2 Sidney Gomez of the Fuente Osmena police station told reporters that Patiño was admitted to the VSM-MC psychiatric ward upon the request of his family.
Gomez said Patiño had not taken his meals for the past two days, which may have caused his behavior.
Cebu City Police Office Director Patrocinio Co-mendador said Patiño may be charged with violations of Republic Act 7610 or the Special Protection of Children Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Law and Violence Against Women and Children law.
Comendador, however, said Patiño’s state of mind needs to be evaluated before the police can take legal action against him.
He said initial information that reached him indicated financial problems “triggered the rage” of Patiño.
Dr. Emmanuel Gines, VSMMC media relations officer, said patients, who are classified by social workers into different economic classes, are entitled to discounts on hospital fees.
Gines said that even if the patient cannot pay the fees, the hospital will not force him into paying because he can issue a promissory note pledging to pay the bill even after he is released.
In a TV Patrol Central Visayas report, VSMMC Chief Dr. Gerardo Aquino confirmed what Gines said. He also said Patinio’s wife is on her second day of confinement and is still recovering.
He also said that it is possible that Patinio’s actions may have been triggered by drugs, as reported by one of the hospital’s nurses and a neighbor of the hostage-taker.
Aquino said the hospital is willing to conduct a medical evaluation of Patinio. (JST/NRC)
