IRAQ MILITANTS WANT RP TROOPS OUT BY JULY 20

IRAQ MILITANTS WANT RP TROOPS OUT BY JULY 20

BAGHDAD, IRAQ, July 12, 2004 (STAR) By Marvin Sy And Mayen Jaymalin - Denying that they freed a Filipino truck driver they had taken hostage, Iraqi militants issued a fresh threat to kill him unless the Philippine government withdraws its troops from Iraq by July 20, or a month ahead of schedule.

The Philippine government rejected a fresh 24-hour deadline from the Iraqi militants, which started at 11 p.m. Saturday night, Baghdad time.

"In line with our commitment to the free people of Iraq, we reiterate our plan to return our humanitarian contingent as scheduled on Aug. 20, 2004," Foreign Affairs Secretary Delia Albert told a news conference following an emergency meeting at Malacañang of the Cabinet Oversight Committee on Internal Security, which lasted four hours.

Albert said Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas had been asked to accompany the wife and brother of hostage Angelo de la Cruz to Iraq "in order to be closer to the developments on the ground."

"We continue to do everything we can in order to secure the release of Angelo de la Cruz," Albert said. "We continue to work both through formal and informal channels toward this end. We are hopeful that with the continued support and prayers of the people, we will hurdle this crisis."

De la Cruz was abducted last week by a group calling itself the Khaled Ibn al-Walid Brigade, linked to the militant Islamic Army in Iraq, as he drove a truckload of crude oil from neighboring Saudi Arabia.

The group had initially given the Philippine government until 2 a.m. Sunday to pull its troops from Iraq before executing De la Cruz.

But late Saturday, they extended the deadline by 24 hours, according to a statement broadcast on Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television.

"The hostage will remain captive and treated as a prisoner under Islam until the last Filipino soldier leaves Iraq July 20 at the latest... or he will be executed," the channel quoted a statement from the militants as saying.

"We give the Philippine government an additional 24 hours starting from 11 p.m. Iraqi time on Saturday (2 a.m. Sunday in Manila) to show it is serious about withdrawing its troops," the statement added.

The Philippine government canceled a planned news conference on De la Cruz’s release yesterday after his captors denied reports he had been freed and issued a new deadline for his execution.

Deputy Presidential Spokesman Ricardo Saludo said the Philippine commitment to stay in Iraq was due to end on Aug. 20.

There was "certainly no pullout in the deadline given by the abductors," he said.

This came as De la Cruz, in a videotape broadcast by Al-Jazeera television Saturday, appealed to his government to withdraw its troops from the war-torn country.

"To President Gloria Arroyo, please withdraw the Philippine soldiers from Iraq," said the hostage, whose kidnappers permitted him to make "his final appeal... before his execution," according to the Doha-based channel.

Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman Gilberto Asuque also said there were no plans to withdraw the 51 Philippine soldiers and policemen by the July 20 deadline.

Asuque said the scheduled withdrawal "is not in compliance with the (Iraqi kidnappers’) demand because it was already agreed upon on Feb. 20, 2004."

After the withdrawal, "our future actions shall be guided by the United Nations Security Council decision as embodied in Resolution 1546, which defines the role of the UN and its member states in the future of Iraq," the DFA said without elaborating.

Resolution 1546 covered the recent handover of power to Iraq’s interim government. It specifies that Iraq can request "the continued presence of the multinational force and setting out its tasks."

The pullout decision is a symbolic blow to the US-led coalition in Iraq, but it doesn’t affect the more crucial Philippine contingent — the 4,000 or so civilian workers at US camps around Iraq who would be difficult to replace. Mrs. Arroyo has frozen any further worker deployments.

The Philippines has already dispatched a special envoy to Baghdad to work through intermediaries for De la Cruz’s release.

National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales also said Muslim religious leaders in Indonesia, Malaysia, Libya and Egypt had agreed to "do their own private negotiation" for the freedom of De la Cruz.

He added that the highest Muslim religious leader in the Philippines sent an appeal to the kidnappers that the killing of the Christian truck driver would hurt the Muslim minority in the largely Christian Philippines.

But Gonzales warned the public to brace for the worst, saying "we are trading with people who are not easy to talk to. They are not like us."

Gonzales said it would hurt the Philippine’s international standing if it withdrew its troops before the government’s commitment ends on Aug. 20.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), on the other hand, said it will comply with the Arroyo administration’s decision on the issue.

"The AFP will abide by any policy by our leaders on the disposition of AFP troops in Iraq," AFP spokesman Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero said in a statement issued after the 72-hour deadline lapsed at 2 a.m. yesterday.

Lucero also aired a statement of support for the 51 Filipino troops in Iraq.

"Our troops have contributed to uplifting the living conditions of Iraqis, particularly in areas where Filipino troops extended their helping hand. (The) troops have forged a bond with them that made them as one of the most respected and loved units," he said.

Source Of Confusion

Sto. Tomas was apparently the source of confusion Saturday, when she told the hostage’s family that he had been freed.

Television pictures showed De la Cruz’s wife Arsenia expressing gratitude and relief that her husband’s ordeal was over, but Malacañang later refused to confirm the report.

Diplomatic sources said the confusion was brought about when Malacañang relied on information from an Iraqi worker who told the finance officer of the Philippine embassy in Iraq that he knew someone who could contact De la Cruz’s abductors.

The Iraqi, with alleged links to dissidents in Baghdad, claimed he knew the editor-in-chief of a government-run newspaper during the time of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who in turn reportedly had access to the militants.

The finance officer then contacted a ranking DFA official, who then informed Malacañang of the new development.

After a period of negotiation, the Iraqi claimed De la Cruz’s release was underway and that the finance officer should meet him at a reception. The Iraqi contact did not show up, which led to questions about his identity.

Philippine embassy personnel in Baghdad recognized the Iraqi contact and claimed he serviced their computers on several occasions. However, the identity of the person the officials in Manila had talked to Saturday night was unclear.

The sources also said the Iraqi technician claimed he was not really that serious about the information he released and did not expect it to go so far up the ranks of the Philippine government.

Philippine Overseas Employment Administration chief Rosalinda Baldoz said the Philippine team is currently negotiating for De la Cruz’s release and she has yet to receive an official report from the team in Baghdad.

The team also met with members of the Pakistani embassy there to ask about their successful bid in the past to secure the release of a Pakistani hostage from the hands of Iraqi militants.

In Baghdad, diplomats were cautious about De la Cruz’s fate.

"We’re not going to say we have him until we see him," one diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

"The family is tense right now. We are saddened by the turn of events," Jesus de la Cruz, a brother of the hostage, said as his voice quivered with emotion.

Neighbor Alfredo Pineda said he sympathized with the family and urged the President to give in to the militants’ demand. He said everyone was holding out hope that De la Cruz was still alive, and he called on the government to be responsible in the issuing of statements.

Radio stations were flooded with calls from the public calling on the government to save De la Cruz, as churches across the country offered special masses for the 46-year-old father of eight.

The Christian truck driver has become a cause célèbre for the country’s more than one million Filipino workers in the Middle East. He has united both Muslims and Catholics and figures from across the political spectrum praying for his freedom.

A Philippine embassy source, when asked about De la Cruz, said reports of his release "yesterday were a false hope. He was not released but we are hoping he will soon be free."

The source said he had heard nothing since the kidnappers had extended their deadline to kill De la Cruz. He had no indication that the hostage might be released soon.

One of De la Cruz’s three sisters, 35-year-old Lydia Ghazzawi, lives in Pacifica, near San Francisco. She said she was ecstatic in the morning but more guarded by early afternoon, when she heard about the conflicting reports.

"I don’t know what’s going on here, it’s very confusing," she said by telephone.

Ghazzawi spent the day flipping through television news stations. Assuming all turns out well, Ghazzawi said she’d celebrate her brother’s release by taking her son, born in California five years ago, to the Philippines to introduce him to his uncle and many cousins.

Another brother, 40-year-old Wilfredo de la Cruz, is still working in Saudi Arabia but hopes to return to the Philippines in August, Ghazzawi said.

The De la Cruz family members still in the Philippines — including the father, two brothers, and three sisters, spent much of Saturday saying rosaries and hoping for the speedy return of Angelo and Wilfredo, Ghazzawi said.

Separately, three other Filipino truck drivers, reported missing after a trip to Iraq, have turned up safe, Santo Tomas said.

De la Cruz’s family personally appealed to Mrs. Arroyo to give in to the kidnappers’ demands during a meeting with her on Friday.

The Philippines Thursday banned its nationals from traveling to Iraq, where more than 3,000 Filipinos are working for civilian contractors.

The travel ban was swiftly enforced when 120 Filipinos hired by a Dubai-based contractor were prevented from leaving Manila airport.

Meanwhile, dozens of Filipinos working in Hong Kong protested outside the territory’s Philippine consulate yesterday, demanding that Manila immediately withdraw its troops from Iraq.

More than 50 demonstrators chanted slogans denouncing Mrs. Arroyo for endangering the lives of Filipinos working in Iraq by deploying troops there, said protest organizer Eman Villanueva.

Calls to the Philippine consulate general in Hong Kong seeking comment on the protest went unanswered.

In Manila, a Catholic bishop urged the government to reconsider its involvement in the United States’ war against terrorism in the light of the risk it creates for thousands of Filipino overseas workers in the Middle East.

Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez, head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines committee on public affairs, said the hostage-taking of De la Cruz is a sign that a policy shift on terrorism should be made.

"I think it is a very valid opportunity for us especially for the policy makers of the land to reconsider," the Caloocan City bishop said.

‘Set Them Free’

Malaysian foreign minister Syed Hamid Albar appealed for the "immediate unconditional release of all hostages including a national from the Philippines being held in Iraq."

He said Malaysia, which chairs the 57-member Organization of Islamic Conference, "does not condone such acts as it threatens the lives of innocent civilians and humanitarian workers."

OIC members Indonesia, Libya and Egypt had also agreed earlier to help in the negotiations to free the captive, officials have said.

Iraqi militants have repeatedly used terrorist attacks to try to force governments to withdraw from the US-led occupation force.

In March, a series of terrorist bombings on commuter trains in Madrid shortly before national elections was believed to have contributed to a victory by the socialists, who had campaigned on a platform of withdrawing Spanish troops from Iraq. New Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez pulled out the troops soon after taking office.

Militants also tried to pressure South Korea by kidnapping one of its citizens in Iraq and demanding the Asian country call off plans to deploy 3,000 troops beginning in August. South Korea refused, and the captive was beheaded last month.

Leftist groups opposed to the government’s support of the United States military campaign in Iraq have held protests to demand that the President withdraw the force, while the powerful Catholic Church has also called on her to intervene.

De la Cruz’s family said he went to Saudi Arabia a year ago to work as a trailer driver after a long period of unemployment, joining about eight million Filipinos working overseas to escape poverty at home.

Three Philippine workers in Iraq have so far been killed in attacks by insurgents opposed to the US military presence there. — With reports from Christina Mendez, Jose Aravilla

Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi

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