Greenhills hostage-taker gets 6 years

MANILA, Philippines — A security guard who took more than 50 people hostage at the Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan last year was sentenced to serve up to six years in prison for one of the charges filed against him.

Court records show Alchie Paray entered into a plea bargain agreement for a lesser offense of altering the composition of an explosive, which carries a penalty of six months to six years in prison. He was originally charged with illegal possession of an explosive, which is a non-bailable offense.

Paray, who is detained at the San Juan City Jail, is still on trial at the Pasig City Regional Trial Court Branch 264 for serious illegal detention, illegal possession of fiream and ammunition and frustrated murder.

Prosecutors have presented three witnesses in the trial for the serious illegal detention charge. Two more people are set to take the witness stand before the prosecution will present other pieces of evidence for the other offenses, according to a court insider.

Paray is represented in court by lawyers from the Public Attorneys’ Office.

Paray held hostage 55 people in Greenhills on March 2, 2020, prompted by what probers said were allegations of corruption and labor anomalies in the operation of the shopping center.

The nearly 10-hour hostage drama ended when policemen rushed Paray and disarmed him while he was speaking to journalists about his grievances.

Mayor Francis Zamora and then Metro Manila police director and now Philippine National Police chief Gen. Debold Sinas supervised negotiations.