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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Filippino hostage freed |
| 2004-07-20 |
| A Filipino truck driver held hostage in Iraq for two weeks has been freed, a day after Manila withdrew its troops in response to demands from kidnappers who had threatened to behead him. The United States, Australia and Iraq's interim government have accused Manila of caving in to terrorists, but Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo defended the decision and said the father of eight did not deserve to die. The kidnappers of Filipino Angelo de la Cruz dropped him at the United Arab Emirates embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday morning, a source at the mission said. A Reuters correspondent later saw him arriving by car at the Philippine embassy. Reuters television footage from inside the UAE embassy showed de la Cruz, 46, sitting with Philippine and UAE officials, wearing a grey sports shirt. He looked tired but in good health and fidgeted with a handkerchief in his hands. Arroyo said she decided to withdraw a small military contingent early because of the importance of looking after some eight million Filipino workers abroad. "A father of eight, Angelo has become a Filipino everyman, a symbol of the hardworking Filipino seeking hope and opportunity," said Arroyo, who spoke to de la Cruz by telephone. Militants threatening to behead de la Cruz had set a July 20 deadline for Philippine troops to leave Iraq. They had been previously due to depart on August 20. The source at the UAE embassy quoted de la Cruz, who was first reported captured on July 7, as saying the kidnappers told him to go inside and ask for help. "We were really surprised to see him here," the source said. De le Cruz's tearful wife Arsenia thanked the kidnappers for not harming him. Relatives at de la Cruz's home town in Buenavista, 90 km (55 miles) north of Manila, were jubilant. "Thank you for saving Angelo to beloved Gloria and God Almighty ... Thank you, Philippines," said his sister Nelia. Egyptian driver Mohammed al-Gharabawi was freed after the Saudi firm he worked for met kidnappers' demands by promising to stop doing work in Iraq. "In the beginning, in the first few days, I was threatened," Gharabawi said at the Egyptian embassy in Baghdad late on Monday. "It was a real threat to me; they were shouting at me and pushing me with guns." A group led by Zarqawi seized two Bulgarians earlier this month and sent footage to Al Jazeera television showing one of them being beheaded. Hopes that the second is alive are fading. A Turk may also have been taken hostage in Iraq, colleagues said on Monday. A member of the regional council of Basra, Iraq's second biggest city, and two bodyguards were assassinated on Tuesday, a council spokesman said. He said Hazim Tawfiq al-Anachi was shot dead at a checkpoint in the southern Iraqi city. "At the checkpoint, there were some people wearing police uniforms who asked the driver to stop. Then they opened fire," the spokesman said. A roadside bomb exploded near the restive town of Baquba north of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing four Iraqi civilians in a minivan, a survivor of the attack and hospital officials said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #3 Oh Gloria, 8 million potential hostages at $6 million per head is $48 trillion, roughly 4 1/2 years of the entire US GDP. Gosh, I wonder how many centuries of Filipino production would it take to continue the Dangeld she just started? Gloria, you are a simple, short sighted FOOL, unworthy of the title of leader. |
| Posted by: Craig 2004-07-20 11:25:55 AM |
| #2 Right on Crazyfool. Expensive fad they've started. |
| Posted by: plainslow 2004-07-20 10:53:43 AM |
| #1 Arroyo said she decided to withdraw a small military contingent early because of the importance of looking after some eight million Filipino workers abroad. And placing a $6M bounty on each of their heads is 'lookin after' then how? |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-07-20 9:21:16 AM |