Jobless man takes employee hostage over P40

A jobless man held hostage an employee in charge of a recruitment agency in Quezon City yesterday after failing to get back the P40 he paid the agency for processing his job application.

Initial police reports said Gilbert Sacoti, 28, applied for a job as factory worker last Saturday at the Triple I Manpower Agency, where he was asked to pay P40 as registration and processing fee for his application.

However, Sacoti apparently changed his mind and decided to cancel his application. He returned to the agency at 8 a.m. yesterday and demanded that the company return the money he paid for registration.

Angie Alcala, who was in charge of the recruitment agency, refused to return the money, prompting Sacoti to pull out a knife and lock the office for more than four hours.

At noon, Sacoti peacefully surrendered to responding policemen. He is detained at the police station pending the filing of criminal charges in court. – Perseus Echeminada