A 28-year-old knife-wielding man held his job recruiter hostage his job recruiter in Quezon City, Philippines Monday after the recruiter refused to return the man's 87 cent registration fee. Gilmer Sacote of Quezon City, Philippines, accused his recruiter, the Triple 1 Manpower Agency of cheating him.

Sacote held Ergie Arcala at knifepoint for four hours, after the latter refused to return the $0.87 he paid the recruitment company as registration fee. It was found that the firm was the fifth recruitment agency Sacote had sought employment in six months.

He later told investigators he planned to terrorize Triple I if he was refused employment. The company started operations on July 25.

Sacote said, "They are all illegal. They are only cheating me of my money but they do not really intend to get me a job. My family will die anyway since I do not have a job."

He adds that his wife, identified as Georgina, tried to dissuade him from carrying out his plan but he still pursued with the hostage-taking.

One of the applicants at Triple I, identified as Mark Anthony Alino, told authorities that he saw Sacote entering the firm's office at around 8 am Monday.

Alino said, "When I saw that he pulled out a double-edged blade from his backpack and stuck its tip on one of the desks, I warned the staff at the agency that we all had to get out because there was bound to be trouble. When I got out, the man locked the door behind me."

Sacote lunged at Arcala and demanded that his registration fee be returned to him after he was told that his application was being turned down due to his expired police clearance.

Most of Triple I employees managed to escape and alerted the police of the hostage-drama. Sacote surrendered after four hours of negotiations.