Manila halts Iraq deployment after hostage report
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-07-08 14:48

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered an immediate halt to the deployment of workers to Iraq after the reported hostage-taking of a Filipino man by gunmen, her spokesman said on Thursday.

Facing her first major test since winning a new term in May elections, Arroyo held an emergency cabinet meeting and the government said it would announce later a response to the militants' reported demand for a Philippine troop withdrawal.

This is an image taken from footage by pan-Arab TV channel Al-Jazeera broadcast Wednesday July 7, 2004, purporting to show armed men reading a statement with a Filipino hostage wearing orange. The Al-Jazeera newscaster said the group offered to release their hostage if the Philippines withdraw their troops from Iraq within 72 hours. The Banner behind has the name of the armed group 'Iraqi Islamic Army - Khaled bin al-Waleed corps'. Al-Jazeera logo below right.  [AP]

"We expect to come up with a decision very shortly," Ignacio Bunye, spokesman for Arroyo, said on television.

The government also sent its top Middle East envoy, Ambassador Roy Cimatu, to Iraq to assess the situation.

"We will exert efforts to bring him to safety," Cimatu said on television, referring to the hostage.

Arabic satellite channel Al Jazeera said on Wednesday that gunmen had seized a Filipino man working in Iraq and threatened to kill him unless Manila withdrew its troops within 72 hours.

The Philippines, a staunch Asian ally of the United States and a major recipient of U.S. military aid, has about 50 military personnel in Iraq assisting in reconstruction.

At least 4,000 Filipino civilians are working there as well, many employed by contractors and working in U.S. military bases. Three Filipino workers have so far been killed in attacks by insurgents opposed to the U.S. military presence in Iraq.

Government officials in Manila said they had not confirmed the identity of the man shown on Al Jazeera dressed in an orange jumpsuit and kneeling in front of three gunmen.

The government has come under pressure, particularly from left-wing politicians, to withdraw its forces from Iraq and Arroyo said in April that she was considering pulling out the small, largely symbolic, reconstruction force.

"President Arroyo should not dilly-dally in saving the life of a Filipino worker being held hostage in Iraq," Connie Bragas-Regalado, head of leftist Migrante group, said on radio.

"She should not delay in pulling out the humanitarian contingent there."

She said the group, which represents overseas workers, planned to hold a daily vigil from Thursday afternoon at the Department of Foreign Affairs to put pressure on the government to withdraw troops and workers from Iraq.

Militants have seized dozens of foreigners in recent weeks and beheaded a South Korean hostage last month after Seoul rejected their demands to pull out 670 South Korean medics and engineers from Iraq and drop plans to send 3,000 troops.

About 120 workers had been due to leave Manila for Iraq on Thursday afternoon and had not yet been told about Arroyo's order, the labor and employment department said.

Bunye said the government was offering help to Filipinos working in Iraq who wanted to come home. About 8 million Filipinos work overseas, many driven to leave the country because of a lack of jobs and low wages at home.

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