The owner of a day-care center in the Philippine capital, Manila, who took a busload of his students and teachers hostage, has released them and surrendered.
The man and an accomplice freed the 31 pre-schoolers and two teachers Wednesday evening outside Manila's city hall, about 10 hours after the incident began. Both men were taken away by police.
The hostage taker, named Jun Ducat, had demanded that authorities provide free education and housing for the 145 children who attend his facility in a poor Manila district.
After seizing the bus earlier today, Ducat told police he was armed with two grenades, an assault rifle and a handgun.
Ducat was involved in a previous hostage-taking case in 1989, in which he held two priests using fake grenades. No charges were filed in that incident.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
