BAGHDAD,
July 13 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The Philippines
confirmed on Monday, July 13, it would withdraw its troops from Iraq
as soon as possible to save a Filipino truck driver held hostage in
the Arab country.
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
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
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
