A bakery owner mercilessly stabbed seven of his colleagues to death at his own birthday party in the Philippines.

The suspect, Bogart Ramirez, 32, massacred all of the workers after allegedly overhearing them plotting to smother him in his sleep.

He said he bought alcohol for them to drink at his birthday celebration, that they organised, before killing the men one by one with a knife while they were impaired.

A villager called the police after hearing one of the bakers crying out for help on April 22.

Officers stormed the locked bakery and found the bodies lying in pools of blood on the floor. The corpses were next to each other and peppered with numerous stab wounds.

One of the men was still breathing, but succumbed to his injuries on the way to the hospital.

In a statement, the Rizal Police Provincial Office said: 'Upon arrival, seven (7) male individuals were found inside the bakery. Initial findings indicate that all victims were employees of J&B Malunggay Bakery and were residing in the premises. The victims appear to have been attacked while asleep.'

The suspect surrendered himself to the police at 9 am local time, around two hours after the gruesome discovery was made. He was thrown into a jail cell pending legal action.

Speaking from behind bars, the man said: 'I surrendered because I have nowhere to go anyway. If I leave town, they will still catch me. After leaving the bakery, I headed to the Philippine National Police headquarters Crame.'

He claimed the bloody massacre stemmed from a conflict with one of his business partners, who was among the bakers killed.

The suspect said: 'I overheard them planning to smother me to death with a pillow while sleeping, so that when my wife arrives the next day, it would look like I had died from a nightmare. There are two of us who are partners at the bakery, and all of the other workers are his relatives. They were trying to gang up on me. If I die, the entire business will be his, so I decided to act first.'

He added that he was able to fend off all of the men as they were allegedly intoxicated and fighting in the dark.

However, police believe the bakery owner was not acting alone.

Police Colonel Felipe Maraggun, provincial police director, said: 'We are not contented that he is the sole suspect. It's possible he has an accomplice and we are looking at that angle. We are not satisfied with his version of events, but we will look at the evidence we gather.'

The victims' bodies were undergoing post-mortem exams while police are reviewing CCTV footage in the area.