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Visayas

Disgruntled landowner, 4 bodyguards held for Iloilo resort hostage-taking

Philippines | Visayas

Disgruntled landowner, 4 bodyguards held for Iloilo resort hostage-taking

By Tara Yap

SICOGON Island in Carles town, Iloilo province. (Tara Yap)

SICOGON Island in Carles town, Iloilo province. (Tara Yap)

ILOILO CITY – Police arrested a disgruntled landowner and four bodyguards on Friday, June 26, for allegedly taking remaining workers of a defunct luxury resort in Sicogon Island in northern Iloilo province hostage and indiscriminately firing their weapons.

Dave Sarrosa and his bodyguards are now in the custody of police in mainland Carles after authorities were able to successfully negotiate with him.

Carles police chief Police Major Karl Jerome Tingala said Sarrosa and his bodyguards forcibly took over the resort owned by Ayala Land Inc. on Thursday afternoon, June 25.

Mayor Arnold Betita II said the resort workers were the remaining employees left on the island as Ayala Land has indefinitely stopped its tourism operations in Sicogon – the island that preceded Boracay as Visayas’ most sought-after beach destination.

Sarrosa’s action came a week after an Ayala Land subsidiary donated 30 hectares of residential land and 33 hectares of agricultural land to the Federation of Sicogon Island Farmers and Fisherfolk Association (FESIFFA), a group of residents previously displaced when tourism redevelopment was started in the 2010s.

A viral video filmed by Sarrosa on Thursday showed him carrying a high powered-firearm, branded Ayala Land as a “land grabber,” and caused locals to go hungry. Sarrosa said that he would not leave the island and would die on the island.

Sarrosa was the previous president of Sicogon Development Corp. (SIDECO), a family-owned corporation that had a joint venture with Ayala Land to redevelop Sicogon.

Police later said that Sarrosa, who was kicked out of the joint venture, wanted to speak to Ayala Land executives and his siblings.

Related Tags

Hostage Iloilo Carles Sicogon Island

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