Former senator Leila de Lima was briefly taken hostage on Sunday by an inmate at the Philippine National Police (PNP) custodial center in Camp Crame where she is being detained.
She was unhurt, but the man who held her hostage and two other inmates were killed.
Police said the inmate, Feliciano Sulayao Jr., held de Lima at knifepoint in her cell where he holed up after a foiled escape attempt.
He and two other detainees were shot dead by the police.
Sulayao and two other detainees had stabbed a police officer as they tried to flee the center. All three were subsequently killed, police said.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said in a Twitter post he will visit the custodial center to check on de Lima’s condition.
The former senator, who is detained on drug charges, is safe and “unscathed” and will receive “all necessary medical and psychological attention needed,” the Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) said on Sunday.
“The PNP has launched an in-depth investigation into the incident,” appointed OPS Officer in Charge and Undersecretary Cheloy Velicaria-Garafil said in a separate statement.
PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said the incident occurred at around 6:30 a.m.
Cpl. Roger Agustin was delivering food to the detainees when Sulayao and fellow inmates Arnel Cabintoy and Idang Susukan attacked him with improvised knives.
The three were suspected to be members of the notorious terrorist group Abu Sayyaf.
The commotion drew the attention of another policeman, who ordered the three to stop assaulting Agustin. When they refused, the policeman then fired at the inmates, wounding Cabintoy and Susukan.
Sulayao then ran to de Lima’s cell, where he tied and blindfolded the former senator, Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr. said.
There was a standoff as a responding team led by Col. Mark Pespes of the PNP Headquarters Support Service negotiated with Sulayao, Abalos said.
When Sulayao requested for water to drink, Pespes saw an opening to neutralize the inmate and shot him, he said. The incident ended at 7:18 a.m.
One other officer who was injured was in critical condition in a hospital, police said.
De Lima said the timely intervention of the police saved her.
“After being told by the hostage-taker that since his two other companions were already dead, he’s certain he would also be killed and he might just as well also kill me, I consider what happened to me as a near-death experience,” she said.
“If not for the timely intervention of the PNP security force, I don’t think I would have come out alive since the hostage-taker was already determined to die and take me with him,” she said.
Azurin said there will be an investigation to review the security protocols inside the custodial center. He denied that de Lima was a target of the Abu Sayyaf.
“Nakita nila na ito ang magandang cover. Kung puntirya nila si Senator de Lima, siguro hindi na nila hinintay ‘yung pulis (It just happened that de Lima was there. They saw it as an opportunity for a good cover. If they targeted Senator de Lima, they would not have waited for the police),” he said, adding that the main objective of the three was to escape.
Abalos said that on behalf of President Marcos, he offered de Lima a different location in the custodial center where Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. and Sen. Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada were detained.
She said she felt “safe” where she is presently detained, Abalos said.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel 3rd said the PNP must fully explain why high-profile inmates were able to hostage de Lima.
“We worry for the safety of Sen. Leila de Lima,” Pimentel said in a text message on Sunday.
He said the PNP “should come up with a detailed report on what happened and why this happened considering that Sen[ator] de Lima is held in a separate area away from other inmates.”
“We are glad with the initial report that she is OK. The wheels of justice in this country must move quicker,” he said. Pimentel added that de Lima’s cases have taken too long to resolve even on the issue of bail. “That should be resolved soon.”
Sen. Ana Theresia “Risa” Hontiveros condemned the hostage-taking of de Lima “right inside” the custodial center.
“We demand an explanation and a thorough investigation of this violent incident from the PNP and the Department of Justice. We need answers,” Hontiveros said. “How can armed detainees easily gain access to the custodial cell of Sen[ator] Leila, which is deep inside the PNP national headquarters? What lapses in security must be addressed, and most of all, who is responsible for these lapses? We strongly deplore this breach of duty,” she said.
Hontiveros urged the PNP to increase the security arrangements around de Lima, and “ensure that no similar incident will ever occur against her or other detainees.”
Sen. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara said, “At the very least they should assure her and other prisoners of better security arrangements. They should consider her application for bail — possibly even on recognizance after a proper assessment of the risk of her taking flight.”
In picture above, Shaken Former senator Leila de Lima recounts her experience to Sen. Ana Theresia ‘Risa’ Hontiveros shortly after the hostage taking incident at the detention center of the Philippine National Police on Sunday, Oct. 9, 2022.