In 1987, armed with fake grenades, he held hostage two Roman Catholic priests over a building contract misunderstanding.
The priests were later freed and Ducat was slapped with criminal charges, but the case did not prosper.
He once pulled a wagon loaded with sacks of rice from Nueva Ecija to Manila, or a distance of more than 100 kilometers, to protest the high prices of rice.
During an election campaign in 1998, he climbed a tower to protest the candidacy of a politician who, he claimed, was not a Filipino citizen.
"I know him as a very, very passionate individual who has his own kind of thinking on the solutions to our problems," Manila Mayor Lito Atienza said. "But we cannot agree with his ways."
Sen. Alfredo Lim said that as a former Manila police chief, he had knowledge of Ducat’s past brushes with the law. He said Ducat always craved public attention. "He merely finds joy in being interviewed," Lim said. "He was attracting attention for the people to guarantee education for over 125 students of his day care center."
Ducat was disqualified as a congressional candidate in 2001, but it was not immediately clear why. He ran for Manila councilor in 2004 but lost.
Despite his careless ways, Ducat was a man of means. Aside from being the operator of the Musmos Day Care Center, he is listed as the chief executive officer of a Cavite-based company that produces and markets woodcraft and other art products. The company, Ducat Hand Carved Arts & Crafts Inc. also sells antiques.
The company website shows annual sales pegged at a maximum of $1 million, and the number of employees at 51 to 100.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said President Arroyo was on top of the situation and that she wanted no blood shed in ending the crisis.
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Bayani Fernando was the President’s point man in the negotiations.
"Considering that lives of young children are involved, indeed we are concerned about it. We hope that with the help of all well-meaning citizens, we would be able to reason with Ducat," Ermita said earlier yesterday.
"If there is any physical rescue, it will be a very last resort. We will try to resolve the issue so that nobody gets hurt. As much as possible we should have no collateral damage," he said.
Presidential spokesperson Ignacio Bunye said that Malacañang was "deeply concerned about the situation especially for the lives of the 32 children aboard the bus."
"But we would like to leave the matter to the hands of the police negotiators and the crisis team. With the efforts being taken by the authorities, we hope that the situation will be resolved in a safe and peaceful manner," Bunye said.
For Genuine Opposition candidates, the hostage incident was a reflection of the people’s disappointment with the government’s failure to address the country’s problems with education, housing and hunger.
"This perhaps illustrates how desperate people can be about the situation. I am not saying that this is the right way to do things but if the administration has been unable to address basic services and expectations of the citizenry, then you can expect these incidents to crop up at anytime," said senatorial candidate Dominique Coseteng.
"I hope the children will be safe and that he decides to surrender because this is not the way to address the problems we have," Coseteng added.
"If it’s the problem of education, if it is the problem of standard of living, if it’s the poverty issue, if it’s injustice issue, etc all these things are legitimate grievances and this what an administration can do if it chooses to be deadma about very basic issues," she said.
Deputy GO campaign manager, San Juan Mayor JV Ejercito said the incident manifested the "hopelessness" of the Filipinos.
For his part, Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano, who is also running for senator, said the government’s inaction provided an excuse for people like Ducat to engage in publicity stunts to call the government’s attention. "Eighty-five million Filipinos are also being (held) hostage," Cayetano said.
Former education secretary Florencio Abad, campaign manager of another GO senatorial candidate Rep. Noynoy Aquino, said the incident "reflects a growing frustration among our people."
Sen. Panfilo Lacson said he would "defer to the better judgment of authorities" in solving the crisis.
UP professor Harry Roque, an expert on international humanitarian law, said Ducat’s action should not be condoned but his grievances should be addressed.
"We condemn his actuations because it violates the rights of children. The issues he raises are concerns on education, lack of government action on education," Roque said.
"It is the responsibility of the Arroyo administration because of the correlation between corruption and the worsening problems on education and housing as raised by the hostage-taker."
But Education officials said that Ducat should not worry about the education of the children because the government has a free elementary and secondary education program.
"Those children are assured of their education. The free elementary and secondary program of the government is in place and these children are assured to avail themselves of this program," Vilma Labrador, Education Undersecretary for Plans and Programs, said.
Meanwhile, Special Envoy to the Gulf States Amable Aguiluz III announced that his family-owned AMA Computer School would provide scholarships to all 147 children of Ducat’s day care school in Parola.
Aside from the top wire agencies like the Associated Press, Reuters, and the Agence France Press, other international news organizations and publications carried the hostage drama.
They included CNN.com, BBC News, Fox News, Bloomberg.com, NHK, Japan; Xinhua online, China; Bangkok Post, Thailand; Washington Post online; New York Times online; Jerusalem Post, Israel; Ireland Online; Radio New Zealand; Gulf News, United Arab Emirates; Huliq, NC, Canada; Sun2Surf, Malaysia; and the news service of Yahoo.com.
Ermita said the crisis, once again, put the country in a bad light before the international community.
He said the international community might wrongly perceive that the peace and order situation in the country was in bad shape.
"He has no mental problems and he is not violent. He is a helpful man, and he did that (hostage-taking) because he had a reason," Buboy said.
He said he refused to join the team that negotiated with his father so as not to aggravate his father’s confusion.
He said the hostage incident involving his father in 1989 was triggered by his disagreement with two priests who did not file a case against him.
Buboy stressed his father would not have succeeded in business if he were a lunatic.
"If he has that problem, I don’t think he would be successful and I don’t think he would have a lot of friends, including Sen. Bong Revilla," he said. Revilla himself described Ducat as "a man of principle."
Mayor Atienza told reporters he has known Ducat to be a "socially conscious man who’s been very active in social projects in the slum areas." – with Edu Punay, Marvin Sy, Rainier Allan Ronda, AFP. AP