Presidential hopeful refuses hotel bill

Presidential hopeful refuses hotel bill

PHILIPPINES: A fringe candidate in May's presidential election in the Philippines was threatened with arrest on Wednesday after refusing to pay a hotel bill for his campaign staff, police said.

Eddie Gil, who is scoring less than 1 percent in opinion polls ahead of the May 10 vote, barred himself in his room when staff of the VIP hotel in this southern city summoned police to have him arrested.

After a standoff lasting several hours, Gil agreed to pay his and his staff's bill amounting to 35,000 pesos (US$625) in cash. He had earlier issued a check that bounced.

"We will let them go because they already paid," said local police precinct chief Celso Muntil.

Gil checked into the hotel on Wednesday with some 200 staff and supporters from Manila.

A local bus association also said he had paid its members a total of 400,000 pesos to join his motorcade through the city. Those checks also bounced, police said.

A spokeswoman for the Gil camp said the presidential hopeful, who claims to be a multimillionaire businessman and international banker, had also agreed to pay the bus operators back. -- AFP