From Ayala Museum, I thought about getting online and sending some reports to the Malaya desk and. of course, to blog about what I saw. No luck getting Airborne Access anywhere in Greenbelt 3. I went to Landmark and then to Gloria Jeans, but again, no luck getting a decent AA signal.

By 4:30-4:45 pm, I made my way to Starbucks 6750 which was already closed and then to the side street between 6750 and Shangrila Hotel that leads to Ayala Ave.

Twas a case of good timing because we soon after saw PNP’s Barias walking along Ayala Ave. with a huge pickup as shield. He later crossed Ayala Ave. to a waiting ambulance just in front of Tuscany (the building next to Pen). We soon saw him giving instructions to his men stationed there.

More shots were being fired and little did we know that the government forces have pierced through the lobby of the hotel. Two men in civilian clothes were whisked out of the hotel and into the ambulance where Barias went a bit earlier. We thought the two men were wounded. A PNP medic later told us that they just rescued the two men from the hotel. The two men were asked to set up a sound system for a hotel affair.

More shots could be heard. Marines and PNP forces were seen walking around the immediate hotel perimeter, signaling perhaps that they already controlled the ground floor of the Pen. That was about 5:30 pm.