this story was taken from www.inq7.net

URL: www.inq7.net/nat/2004/ju...at_1-1-p.htm

Gov't pleads: Spare life
of Filipino hostage
Posted:1:40 AM (Manila Time) | Jul. 10, 2004
By Juliet Labog-Javellana
Inquirer News Service


THE GOVERNMENT appealed Friday for the life of the Filipino held hostage in Iraq citing the Philippines' "long history of working with the people of Iraq," and how Filipinos "in the tens of thousands" had helped that country "build its roads, bridges and other infrastructure."

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's spokesperson Ignacio Bunye said the appeal, issued by Foreign Secretary Delia Albert, was made at the end of a three-hour meeting of the Cabinet Oversight Committee on Internal Security (COCIS) in Malacañang, which Ms Arroyo called to deal with the abduction of truck driver Angelo de la Cruz by Iraqi militants.

It was the second meeting of the COCIS in as many days since the hostage crisis started.

In her appeal, Albert also said that De la Cruz was part of this tradition of assistance.

"He wishes nothing more than an honest day's wage to feed his wife and eight young children. He has not committed any acts of violence against the Iraqi people, nor does he wish them ill," Albert said of De la Cruz.

She added: "His life should be spared and he should be allowed to be reunited with his family in the Philippines.

"His death will not achieve any useful purpose. If those who hold him hope to promote their cause, compassion and mercy should be their guiding principle."

Earlier in the day, the President announced that Ambassador Roy Cimatu was under orders to secure the release of De la Cruz, whom his captors had threatened to behead if the Philippines did not pull out its troops in 72 hours.

The deadline lapses at 2 a.m. Sunday, Manila time. But in another video footage aired on Thursday, Arab TV Al-Jazeera reported that two men described as Bulgarian workers were being held in Iraq under threat of death unless US troops free Iraqi prisoners within 24 hours.

Ms Arroyo did not name the Filipino hostage in her speech at the Philippine International Convention Center, although she said the crisis called for national solidarity and prayer.

"Let's pray for the safe and immediate release of one of our workers who had been abducted in Iraq. Ambassador Cimatu is in Baghdad to do what is humanly possible to secure the release of our kababayan," she said.

Ms Arroyo also imposed a news blackout on the negotiations for De la Cruz's release.

"I shall not comment about the situation at this most crucial and sensitive point in time, when we have to withhold information on our moves to ensure the safety of the hostage," she said, adding:

"I ask the media not to fan speculation or hysteria. A higher national interest is involved in this matter."


While the members of the COCIS, chaired by Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo, was meeting at the Presidential Guesthouse, Ms Arroyo was meeting with De la Cruz's family at the Palace Music Room.

De la Cruz's wife Arsenia came with seven of their eight children, his father Feliciano, sister-in-law Norma and uncle-in-law Alberto Pineda. They arrived in Malacañang at about 5 p.m. in a Clark Development Corp. bus.

Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said the President assured the weeping family during the 30-minute meeting that "the entire government" was working to secure De la Cruz's safe release.

Sto. Tomas said that as soon as the President entered the room, Arsenia broke into tears and hugged her.

"Most of the time the conversation was in Kapampangan, but toward the end [Arsenia] made an appeal to all good-hearted Muslims all over the world to help her husband because he is only working so that he can provide food to his children and send them to school," Sto. Tomas said.

The labor secretary said she did not recall Arsenia asking the President to yield to the hostage-takers' demand: "She just said that they are hoping everything will be done to secure her husband's safe and immediate release because he is not a soldier, not a combatant."

Sto. Tomas said the family also asked for privacy. "It's a very stressful thing that every 10-15 minutes they are asked [about the matter]. Everybody starts crying," she said.

First crisis

Ironically, the President talked about the first crisis facing her new administration during the Overseas Employment Summit, which tackled measures meant to protect the thousands of Filipinos leaving each year for greener pastures abroad.

"I leave it to our Iraq team to do what has to be done, in coordination with the transition government of Iraq and our allies, to get the hostage home safely," Ms Arroyo said in her speech at the summit held at the PICC.

She reiterated her order for the suspension of the deployment of workers to Iraq pending the resolution of the hostage crisis.

Albert said at a briefing in Malacañang that Cimatu would assist Philippine Charge d'Affaires Ricardo Endaya in Baghdad in seeking the release with the help of an official of the Iraqi Governing Council.

She said the Iraqi official also helped Endaya in the release of a Filipino driver, Francisco Pagcalinawan, similarly abducted last April.

Sto. Tomas also cited this Iraqi official in the course of expressing confidence that negotiators would be able to link up with De la Cruz's captors.

According to Sto. Tomas, one of the reasons for the success of the previous negotiation was it was not conducted "in full view of everybody."

Albert also said the situation was "very sensitive."

"So let's please leave the negotiators, let our people keep the lines open. We are hoping for the best because a life is at stake. The government is doing its utmost best. The lines of communication are open," she said.

The influential Catholic Church added its voice to the call for the government to do everything to save De la Cruz.

Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales called on government leaders to seriously consider De la Cruz's plight before making a final decision on the matter.

"That will again be a political decision because there are some commitments [of the government], but we reiterate to the government that it should consider these [commitments] if they are connected with the life of Angelo," Rosales said in an interview at the World Trade Center.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said De la Cruz's abduction had caused extreme sadness among some 4,000 Filipino clergy, who concluded a weeklong national congress in Pasay City Friday.

Activist priest Robert Reyes initiated a signature campaign to save the life of De la Cruz. The petition was passed among the priests and bishops at the World Trade Center, and De la Cruz was also especially mentioned in the concluding Mass of the congress.

"We join his family, his province mates, and the entire nation in storming the heavens that he be spared this ultimate cruelty. We also pray for his tormentors, that the Lord will soften their hearts so that they will release Angelo," Davao Archbishop Fernando Capalla, CBCP president, said in a statement.


Various personalities weighed in on the issue.

Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. advised Executive Secretary Romulo that Al-Jazeera could hold the key to the safe release of De la Cruz.

De Venecia said Philippine diplomatic officials in Baghdad and in Doha, Qatar, the home base of Al-Jazeera, could touch base with its correspondents "to see how we can sit down [with the insurgents] and work out an arrangement."

But militant party-list representatives in the House strongly called for the pullout.

Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano that 24 hours was "long enough for the President to immediately withdraw the 51-member Philippine contingent, retract the government's policy of support to the United States' unjust occupation of Iraq, and pave the way for the safe and immediate release of De la Cruz."

"We can no longer afford to sacrifice another Filipino migrant worker's life for the sake of the US monopolistic agenda in the Arab region," Mariano said.

Gabriela Rep. Liza Maza said Ms Arroyo could save the life of De la Cruz if she could "muster the political will to defy, for one, her commitment to the US government."

Lone voice

Sen. Panfilo Lacson was the lone voice in the Senate advocating the pullout of troops.

Had he been elected president, Lacson said, he would immediately order the pullout.

"It's not because we are giving in to the demands of the Iraqi terrorists, but because it was wrong, in the first place, to send the troops in Iraq," he told ANC TV.

But Senators Manuel Villar and Rodolfo Biazon said Philippine troops should remain in Iraq.

Villar, who had previously sought the withdrawal of the troops, told reporters that he was pitching a different line because "we missed the opportunity" to pull out with the hostage taking.

He said the government could have avoided this incident had it withdrawn the troops earlier.

Biazon said this was not the time to consider a pullout "because this will have more serious consequences."

In a separate interview, he said "national honor" was also involved.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel said the first thing the government should do was negotiate with the Iraqis. He said the Philippines was in a good negotiating position because De la Cruz was not in Iraq to commit an act of aggression.

Vice President Noli de Castro said in a statement that De La Cruz's abduction was "a terrorist act."

He said the Philippine government should not be cowed or blackmailed by acts of terrorism.

But he added: "We should do everything to save the life of Angelo. The life of every Filipino in the country and overseas is important. All concerns must be considered. But at the moment, the crucial move is to get Angelo back alive."