Jordan Times
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
'Gov't exerting efforts
to help free Filipino'
By Khalid Dalal
AMMAN, July 13 - The government on Monday said it was exerting efforts through
diplomatic channels to help release a Filipino civilian kidnapped in Iraq last
week.
“Jordan is against abduction and it helped last April release three Japanese
hostages in Iraq. We hope to do it again,” Minister of State and Government
Spokesperson Asma Khader told her weekly press conference yesterday. The wife
and brother of Filipino hostage Angelo de la Cruz, a father of eight, arrived
here on Monday to appeal for his release.
They were accompanied by Philippines Labor Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas,
Agence France-Presse reported. “Abduction violates human rights and contradicts
with Arab and Muslim values,” Khader said. According to AFP, the hostage's
relatives hope to launch an appeal to the kidnappers, a group calling itself the
Khaled Ibn Al Walid Brigade.
The groups threatened to kill the 46-year-old trucker if Manila does not agree
to withdraw its troops from Iraq.