BAGHDAD, 21 July 2004 — A Filipino truck driver held hostage in Iraq for nearly two weeks was freed yesterday, a day after the Philippines withdrew the last of its peacekeepers from Iraq.
“I am fine and relaxed. I am extremely happy and I can’t say anything more than this,” truck driver Angelo dela Cruz told reporters in a small room at the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad where he was taken from the UAE Embassy where he was dropped by his captors.
Dressed in a striped T-shirt, the father of eight was heard speaking to officials in Manila by the telephone, saying: “Thank you, thank you. I am happy to be free.”
The Philippine government and the family of dela Cruz were overjoyed at his release. His wife, Arsenia, burst into tears upon hearing the news in neighboring Jordan. Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo grinned during a nationally televised address in the Philippines.
Arroyo said she decided to withdraw the 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,” she said.
The Philippine withdrawal has drawn strong criticism from Iraqi and US officials. Many fear it will embolden terror groups to take more foreign civilians hostage in an effort to drive a wedge between the countries in the coalition.
A purported Internet statement from militants linked to Jordanian Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi said Japan should follow the Philippines and pull out of Iraq or face attacks. But a later Internet statement signed by Zarqawi’s Tawhid wal Jihad group disowned the earlier threat.
An American, a South Korean and a Bulgarian have been beheaded by a group led by Zarqawi. Hopes that a second Bulgarian hostage is still alive are fading.
The news of dela Cruz’s release came amid an ongoing wave of deadly violence across Iraq, much of it targeting police and other government officials, whom insurgents view as collaborators.
In the southern city of Basra, gunmen killed Hazim Al-Aynachi, an Iraqi council member running for governor, along with his bodyguard and driver, as they were pulling out of his driveway to head to work in the morning, said council head Abdul Bari Faiyek.
Faiyek blamed the killing on opposition to the gubernatorial elections that were scheduled for the day, but were delayed in response to the shooting.
— Additional input from agencies
