Philippines Advances Iraq Pullout To Save Hostage

Aljazeera broadcast footage of Philippine deputy foreign minister Rafael Seguis reading out an official statement, which the channel translated into Arabic, shortly after the expiry of a new deadline set by the Iraqi group holding his compatriot 46-year-old de la Cruz, Reuters news agency reported.

"In response to your request, the Philippines … will withdraw its humanitarian forces as soon as possible," Seguis said.

"I hope the statement that I read will touch the heart of this group," said the official. "We know that Islam is the religion of peace and mercy."

Seguis gave no date for a withdrawal, and Philippine officials declined comment.

Foreign Ministry officials in Manila were holding an emergency meeting.

CNN quoted unidentified Philippine officials as saying they expected the captive truck driver to be released on Tuesday, July 13, but no independent confirmation was available.

The group had extended a previous execution deadline by 24 hours for Manila to bow to demands for an early withdrawal of its troops from US-led forces by July 20.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had said it would not change plans to withdraw its 50 soldiers, all working on humanitarian projects, before schedule on August 20.

In February, Manila said it would not withdraw its troops from Iraq following a car bomb that left 12 Filipinos wounded.

The Doha-based news channel, showing a letter it said it had received from the captors, reported that de la Cruz had been moved "to the place of implementing the punishment".

It showed brief footage of a video tape in which it said de la Cruz appealed to Arroyo to swiftly withdraw troops from Iraq so he could return to his family alive.

On Saturday, July 10, Manila erroneously announced that de la Cruz has been released.

Anxiety

At de la Cruz’s family home in a rural area north of Manila, relatives were unwilling to talk, having had their hopes raised and shattered before.

Other relatives went all the way to Amman, Jordan, nervously waiting for his release.

"We are just letting the negotiations take its due course until such time that we will have resolved the negotiations," Arvic Arevalo, a diplomat at the Philippines embassy in Amman, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"There is nothing new," he told AFP, adding that the embassy has been "advised" that the relatives should not meet the press at this time so as not to jeopardize efforts for his release.

The hostage’s wife Arsenia and his brother Jesus arrived Monday in Jordan accompanied by Philippines Labour Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas to appeal for his release.

The Jordanian government had expressed readiness to help Manila seek the release of the father of eight.

Iraqis have seized dozens of foreigners since April to press demands for foreign troops to leave their country.

Many hostages have been freed but at least three have been beheaded, including an American and a South Korean.

Islam does not permit any measure that causes harm or humiliation to any human being, let alone killing him/her in cold blood or slaying them like a sheep for everyone to see.