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Manila bus siege children freed Manila bus siege children freed
(about 1 hour later)
A group of children held hostage on board a bus by the head of their day care centre in the Philippines have been freed. A busload of pre-school children and their teachers were freed after being held at gunpoint for nearly 10 hours in the Philippine capital, Manila.
The 32 children and two teachers were released after spending several hours in the bus by a man identified as Jun Ducat and another armed hostage-taker. The 32 children and two teachers were taken hostage by their day care centre owner, Jun Ducat, who said he wanted better conditions for the children.
Mr Ducat said he had carried out the drastic action to demand better housing and education for the children. He and at least one other reported hostage-taker gave themselves up.
The two hostage-takers came out with their hands raised. As some of the children were carried off the bus, a ripple of applause broke out among the crowd around the bus.
Thousands of people had gathered at the scene - along with police and worried parents - near Manila City Hall to see the surrender in the early evening. The siege unfolded outside Manila City Hall. As the day progressed hundreds of onlookers joined worried parents at the police cordon.
Mr Ducat had earlier told local media he had no intention of harming the children. One boy suffering from a fever was released in the middle of the siege. The children had been heading out on a field trip in the morning when the hostage-takers took over the bus and drove it to the city hall.
Using a mobile phone from the bus, Mr Ducat said he was demanding better housing and education for the 145 children at his centre in Manila's poor Tondo district. Police were warned, via cardboard messages in the bus window, that an Uzi assault rifle, a revolver and two grenades, as well as food and water for two days, were on board.
"I am so sorry I took these children in a violent action to call the attention of the Filipino people to open their minds to the police reality," he said. 'Political reality'
Huge crowds During the siege, Mr Ducat justified his actions in interviews with the local media.
Some of the parents who had gathered at the cordon had earlier voiced their distress as they struggled to make sense of the unfolding events. Using a mobile phone from the bus, he said he had no intention of harming the children.
"[Mr Ducat] told us it was a field trip. We knew Mr Ducat and he has been very kind. Please let our children go," Clara Moreno was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.
In pictures: Hostage crisisIn pictures: Hostage crisis
The hostage-takers told police via messages on cardboard that they possessed an Uzi assault rifle, a revolver and two grenades, as well as food and water for two days. He insisted his aim was to demand better housing and education for the 145 children at his centre in Manila's poor Tondo district.
A local senator, Ramon Revilla, who was reported to have known Mr Ducat, boarded the bus for a short time to try to persuade him to surrender. "I am so sorry I took these children in a violent action to call the attention of the Filipino people to open their minds to the political reality," he said.
Television pictures showed the children waving from the bus, and ice cream was seen being delivered by a policeman. At one point, a local senator, Ramon Revilla, who was reported to have known Mr Ducat, boarded the bus to try to persuade him to surrender.
Officials said Jun Ducat was involved in a hostage-taking incident using fake grenades 20 years ago. One boy suffering from a fever was allowed to go free.
This is the second hostage situation in Manila in two weeks. On 14 March, police shot dead a marine who took four people hostage in a court over an eviction issue. Although the bus was parked in the open on a hot day, the children - all aged around five years old - did not appear to be suffering any discomfort.
They waved when the bus curtains were pulled back, and ice cream was seen being delivered to the bus by a policeman.
'Passionate individual'
Mr Ducat agreed to release the children at 1900 (1100GMT), and in return the police agreed to his request that candles be lit and the press be allowed to cover the event.
Although some parents were described as being nearly hysterical with concern as the siege went on, there were a number who were reluctant to damn Mr Ducat.
People are pretty shocked by this. The children are very young and everyone is concerned about the trauma they are going to suffer Onlooker Ryan Buaron
"I know him as a very good man. I know he will not harm my six-year-old daughter," one father, Jojo Abuyan, told Reuters news agency.
"In our own eyes, he's a real hero. He has been helping a lot of people in our community without expecting anything in return," Tondo resident Susan Ferol said.
Manila's Mayor Lito Atienza described Mr Ducat as a "very, very passionate individual who has his own kind of thinking on the solutions to our problems."
But former Manila police chief Senator Alfredo Lim said he had a history of seeking attention.
Mr Ducat is reported to have taken two priests hostage using fake grenades in 1989, in a row over a building contract. No charges were filed.
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