Man burns house down in Pandacan hostage try

An alleged drug user was killed yesterday after he went amuck, took his relatives hostage and then burned two houses in Pandacan, Manila yesterday.

Ranil Baje, 26, took hostage his uncle, grandmother, and niece with a kitchen knife along Floresca street in Pandacan yesterday morning.

When the three hostages escaped, Baje fled to a neighboring house and set it on fire, Manila Police District (MPD) Pandacan station commander Superintendent Erwin Dayag said.

Case investigator Police Officer 1 Danilo Kabigting said the suspect had been awake for three days and was reportedly a drug user.

When Inspectors Genesis Aliling and Francis Guevarra responded to the second house where the suspect hid, Baje emerged from the smoke and stabbed the two men in the arm and neck. They retaliated by shooting the suspect in the body.

MPD director Chief Superintendent Vicente Danao Jr. yesterday said he has ordered his police commanders to use their sound judgement in neutralizing hostage-takers especially if there is a threat to a law enforcer’s life.

Danao said he does not want a repeat of the Quirino Grandstand hostage crisis on Aug. 23, 2010 that left eight foreigners dead.