Profile: Hostage-taker Ducat hates politics, elections

It wasn't the first time that Armando “Jun" Ducat Jr put his and other people’s lives on the line. In the past, Ducat ventilated his disappointment with politicians and the elections by pulling off attention-grabbing stunts. In 1987, then National Bureau of Investigation director Alfredo Lim, said Ducat also took as hostage two priests, one of them, an Italian, because of a dispute over payments for the repair of a church in Sta. Cruz, Manila. Ducat released the priests unharmed after Lim convinced him to do so. In the mid '90s, Ducat went on hunger strike at Welcome Rotonda in Quezon City in protest of Chinese-Filipinos joining elections. In 2001, Ducat joined as an independent candidate the congressional race in the 3rd district of Manila but lost to Harry Angping. On the day that he decided to take as hostage 26 children and four teachers of his own Musmos Day Care Center in Tondo Manila, Ducat was again having a big trouble with politicians running in the elections. During the hostage ordeal on Taft Avenue in Manila, Ducat called on voters to be wary of politicians, saying these are the same people involved in corruption and would take advantage of the poor. Ducat’s friends, like broadcast journalist Wally Carbonell, believe that Ducat was incapable of hurting people. Carbonell who joined Ducat in his hunger strike said the hostage-taker was civic-minded. Lim also said that Ducat was rational. Among Ducat’s demands for the release of his hostages is for 145 students under his foundation, to receive educational benefits that can help them finish college. Aside from running his own pre-school, Ducat is also into the wood carving and antique dealing business. In 2005, he established the Ducat Hand Carved Arts and Crafts, Inc., in Spring Green village, Bucal, Tanza, Cavite. The company was first owned by a German corporation that sold excellent wooden products in the international market for 40 years. Ducat’s company manufactures and sells wooden furniture, wood carving articles and home accessories. It is also into reproduction of antique furniture such as sofa, sofa beds, coffee and tea table. Records obtained from the Internet showed that Ducat is the company’s chief executive officer. The company’s annual sales range is below US$ 1 million and has a total of 51 to 100 employees. - GMANews.TV