MANILA, July 10 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A few hours after announcing it would pull its troops out of Iraq in August, Manila confirmed Saturday, July 10, the release of its national who has been taken hostage in the oil-rich Arab country.

President Gloria Arroyo told a relative of Angelo de la Cruz that he has been released and is on his way to a Baghdad hotel, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP), citing a report by local television news channel ANC.

De la Cruz, 46, was taken hostage as he drove into Iraq from Saudi Arabia by a group calling itself the Khaled Ibn al-Walid Brigade, which threatened to execute him if Manila did not withdraw its troops from Iraq by Sunday, July 11.

Labor Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas confirmed the release, according to a report carried on the ABS-CBN news website.

The labor chief said she got the information from the President herself, who rang the wife of de la Cruz, to tell her the good news.

"While this man is still not in our hands, he will be brought to a hotel in Baghdad, where he will be turned over to our people," Tomas, who was staying with the hostage's family in a hotel at a former US air base, said.

Arroyo had earlier banned the media from the area where de la Cruz's family is staying to "protect their privacy."

Earlier, a spokesman for Iraq's influential Muslim Scholars Association told AFP the Philippine hostage may soon be released by his captors.

"While we were meeting with an emissary from the Philippine foreign ministry, we received information that he may be released soon," said Sheikh Abdul Salam Al-Kubaisi, who has in the past helped in facilitating the release of foreign hostages in Iraq.

Kubaisi said the association would release a statement shortly calling for the release of all hostages held in Iraq.

"The essence of our message will be that it is not permissible to detain civilians like this."

Manila had dispatched a special envoy to Baghdad to work through intermediaries for 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 his freedom.

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

Arroyo, right, comforts Cruz's wife (File photo)

The announcement came few hours after the government announced it would withdraw its troops from Iraq in August as scheduled.

However, presidential palace spokesman Ricardo Saludo said there was "certainly no pullout in the deadline given by the abductors."

Foreign Affairs spokesman Gilberto Asuque also said there were no plans to withdraw the 51 Philippine soldiers and policemen by the deadline.

Asuque told AFP the scheduled withdrawal "is not in compliance with the (Iraqi group's) demand because it was already agreed upon in February 20, 2004."

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

Reports that Filipino troops were being withdrawn to satisfy the Iraqi abductors may have "misconstrued" earlier statements about the contingent leaving in August, Saludo said.

Before his release, Cruz made a final appeal to his government to pull its troops out of Iraq.

"To President Gloria Arroyo, please withdraw the Philippine soldiers from Iraq," he said.

"To my colleagues working in the Saudi company and all Filipinos coming to Iraq, I advise you not to come to the country because of the numerous problems and because the police in Iraq cannot protect you from danger," Cruz added.

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.

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