Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Volume IV, Number 23 July 11 - 17, 2004 Quezon City, Philippines |
MIGRANT WATCH On
the Hostage Crisis in Iraq: Filipino
worker Angelo de la Cruz, taken hostage by Iraqi resistance fighters
demanding the pullout of Filipino troops from Iraq, now lives by the
minute as his captors have threatened to behead him should the Arroyo
government not follow suit. But Malacañang appears to be unmoved by his
family’s pleas and the mounting public indignation. By
Alexander Martin Remollino
The
Saudi Arabia chapter of Migrante International has sent a petition to
Malacañang calling for the pullout of Filipino troops from Iraq to save
the life of Angelo de la Cruz, held hostage last July 8 by Iraqi
resistance fighters claiming to belong to the Iraqi Islamic Army-Khaled
bin al-Waleed Corps. The hostage takers have threatened to behead him
within 72 hours from the date of the hostage taking if President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo does not order a pullout of Filipino troops from Iraq. At
present there are 51 Filipino soldiers, policemen, and health workers
deployed in Iraq as part of the U.S.-led multinational peacekeeping force. “We deem the personal safety of all OFWs in the Middle East the first and foremost concern of our government,” the Migrante statement read. “In
view of the seriousness of the current situation in Iraq, we believe the
lives of the OFWs are at extreme risk particularly our compatriot Angelo
de la Cruz, who Filipino
community leaders representing 26 organizations signed the petition. Filipinos
at risk
De
la Cruz, 46, works as a truck driver for a Saudi Arabian company
subcontracted by U.S. military occupation forces. The sole breadwinner of
a family with eight children in Mexico, Pampanga, about one and a half
hour from Manila, he was abducted in Falluja, a known site of frequent
Iraqi guerrilla attacks. If
De la Cruz is beheaded, he would be the third person to be beheaded by
Iraqi resistance fighters in retaliation against the U.S. occupation
forces and their allies, following American Nick Berg and South Korean Kim
Sun-il. The U.S. and South Korean governments had refused to withdraw
their troops from Iraq even when the captors of Berg and Kim had
explicitly demanded so. He
will, if beheaded, also be the fourth Filipino to be killed in Iraq in the
last three months, based on media reports and data from Migrante
International. Rodrigo Reyes, Raymond Natividad, and Raul Carlos Flores
were all killed in the last three months in attacks by Iraqi resistance
fighters. Also,
three Filipino soldiers – Ricnon Carolasan, Sgt. Negsur Betantos, and
Navy Cpl. Manuel Cajote – were wounded in a recent attack by Iraqi
guerrillas on a convoy in Babil, southern Iraq. Aside
from the Filipino troops, there are at present about 3,000 Filipinos
working in “reconstruction” activities in Iraq. Some 80 percent of
them work as cooks and technical maintenance personnel in U.S. military
bases. Filipino
workers in the Middle East had been in danger ever since the U.S. war on
Iraq began on March 20, 2003 because of the Philippine government’s
support for it. As early as April last year, there were already reports of
Filipinos subjected to hate attacks in the Middle East because they were
perceived as also supportive of the U.S. war on Iraq like the Arroyo
administration. In
a statement July 8, the Hong Kong-based Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants
(APMM) cited reports circulating on the Internet that Filipinos are third
on the al-Qaeda hit list, next to Americans and British, because of their
governments’ complicity in the war on Iraq. Dr.
Robinson Montalba, a convenor of he broad-based Initiatives for Peace in
Mindanao (InPeace Mindanao), which also opposes the U.S. war on Iraq, said
in a statement on the same date: “Our troops and our country are seen by
Iraqis and Arabs as part of the forces abetting the occupation of Iraq.” The
U.S. bombed and invaded Iraq last year allegedly because of its production
and maintenance of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and the connections
of Saddam Hussein’s government with international terrorist networks. To
date, no WMDs have been found in Iraq, and the Bush government has not
been able to present proof of Hussein’s supposed international terrorist
links. Deluge
of opposition Amid
all these, Malacañang appears to be unfazed. Arroyo has only suspended
the deployment of Filipinos to Iraq, and has been quoted by media as
saying that she will not order a withdrawal of troops from that country. Former
military chief Roy Cimatu, who is now the Philippines’ special envoy to
the Middle East, said he would suggest that the president keep the
country’s military contingent in Iraq. But
Arroyo is running into a deluge of public opposition to Philippine
military presence in Iraq. The
opposition is coming not only from militant groups like Migrante
International, the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU or May First Labor Center),
Anakbayan (Nation’s Youth) the League of Filipino Students (LFS), and
the Pinag-isang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (Piston or
Nationwide Union of Drivers and Operators) which have long been demanding
that the Philippine government withdraw support for the war on Iraq, and
which are now staging vigils all over the country as well as in Filipino
community centers abroad. Sen.
Manny Villar, who chairs the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, was
quoted by a daily news website as saying: “Somebody should be held
accountable for this. The DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs), perhaps,
because they should have anticipated this coming when the hostage taking
and beheading in Iraq began.” Even
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a known supporter of the U.S. war on “terror,”
has opposed the presence of Filipino troops on Iraqi soil. He has called
for the immediate pullout of the Filipino troops, saying that doing so
would not be giving in to “terrorist” demands, “because it was wrong
in the first place to send in the troops.” The militant groups that had long been demanding the withdrawal of Philippine government support for the U.S.-led war on Iraq also have an ally in no less than Judith de la Cruz, a sister of the hostage Filipino worker. “Please pull out,” she said over the radio. “We want to see him alive.” Bulatlat.com We want to know what you think of this article.
|
|||