- Wednesday, 28 March , 2007 18:32:49
Reporter: Karen Percy
MARK COLVIN: One man's terrorist is another man's kindergarten Principal.
In the Philippines capital, Manila, today, a man who runs a day care centre in one of the poorer parts of the city has taken his own students hostage.
He says he wants to bring attention to the plight of those children and others who he says are denied educational opportunities.
The man, and another who's with him, are believed to be heavily armed. But he's insisting that they won't hurt the children.
Our South East Asia Correspondent Karen Percy is on the line.
(to Karen Percy) Karen, how did this start?
KAREN PERCY: Well, it was at 8:30 this morning, these kids were on a bus, they were expecting to go on a field trip. And at that time two men came on board, one of them Jun Ducat, who is the Principal you're talking about, or the owner of this daycare centre.
He released the driver, shut up the door and then suddenly there was a sign on the window, the front window of the bus that said to outsiders, anybody walking past who might read it, that they had taken the 32 children hostage, two teachers hostage, and that they had some weapons on them - a couple of hand grenades, they had an Uzi and a pistol.
So that's how it all began. It was really quite extraordinary.
These young children are aged three to five years, they're preschoolers.
It became fairly apparent fairly quickly that, as part of this sign on the door, that they wanted that these children would get better educational opportunities. They're from a very poor slum.
MARK COLVIN: One of one's first thoughts is that these are very small children and they must be absolutely terrified. What do we know about their reaction?
KAREN PERCY: Well, initially it seemed the children didn't really know what was going on.
They knew this man, so trusted this man, so weren't too concerned at all.
We're not sure how much they might have seen of the weaponry that is there, if there is in fact there is weaponry. There's some question about that even that perhaps they're just claiming there are weapons et cetera.
Still, local reporters - we've been monitoring TV stations and local stations there - have been saying that they didn't think the children were too upset to begin with, though it's now pushing to six and a half, seven hours that they've been there. They're getting tired, they're getting hungry, perhaps bored.
Parents have arrived as well, as you might expect, the families are pretty upset. They've come into the city of Manila, this is right in the heart, near where city hall is. So you can expect that the families would be upset as well.
But the children seem to be coping so far. We know that not so long ago some provisions were brought to them, thought to be ice creams. So maybe that'll keep them quiet and assuaged for some time.
MARK COLVIN: Must be terrifying for the families, and there must be very strong pressure for the police to do something. But then again storming the bus could cause casualties in itself. So what are they proposing to do?
KAREN PERCY: Well, they've absolutely ruled out any attempt at force, because of the fact that there are these young children there, and who knows, it's a confined space, you couldn't possibly go in there without somebody being hurt.
I think the sense now is that they're just going to wait it out.
One of the policemen who's been speaking is a Colonel Cipriano Querol. He's head of the Manila Police District, and he's told the local news stations that the police will continue their strategy to negotiate.
CIPRIANO QUEROL: For how long we will be patient to entertain his requests or allow us to study his demands if ever there will be.
So right now there is... we have designated an officer as the negotiating leader and he will be the one to receive other negotiators who will come later. Like for example his immediate family, his wife or his children.
MARK COLVIN: Colonel Cipriano Querol, the Chief of Staff at the Manila Police District in the Philippines.
(to Karen Percy) Karen Percy, I understand that the head hostage taker, the owner of this daycare centre, may have even taken someone else hostage years ago.
KAREN PERCY: We're certainly getting a lot of reports and rumours about the attention-seeking ways of Jun Ducat, if it indeed is the same man who is said to have taken a couple of priests hostage back in the 1980s.
Now that was a dispute over payment over a building contract and it was... I don't think the case was ever actually settled, but they were released, and it turns out the grenades he had taking them hostage were fake, which is why I made reference to whether the weaponry is real.
We're hearing a lot about his history - that he's run for government office in the past.
It's interesting, one of the people who went to try and help him today was a Senator Ramon Revilla, a movie star, a politician movie star, in the Philippines - not uncommon - who's also a family friend. So he's obviously got a lot of ties.
He's a wealthy man, because he runs this school, and has actually... well, relatively wealthy, in Philippines terms. So he's got money for this school.
So very interesting chequered past it would seem.
MARK COLVIN: So what is the political dimension with an election coming up? What are his demands in political terms?
KAREN PERCY: Well, as well as highlighting that he wanted better education for these children, he was wanting the voters, who are about to face mid-term elections in May, the President Gloria Arroyo is not up for re-election herself, but her government may well be affected by an aggressive push to oust her supporters.
Corruption, political corruption in the Philippines, it seems every election is underscored by this, but he's taking an aggressive stance against political corruption and the poverty that continues to wrack through the Philippines, where some 40 per cent, by some estimates, of people are living below the poverty line.
So that certainly seems to be part of what he's got to say here.
MARK COLVIN: Thank you, Karen.
Karen Percy.
