Smiling broadly, Filipino hostage enjoys first breath of freedom

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2004

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Smiling broadly, Filipino truck driver Angelo de la Cruz enjoyed his first taste of freedom after his life was spared thanks to the hasty withdrawal of Manila's tiny military presence from Iraq.

Clamouring for a glimpse of the 46-year-old father of eight, journalists and cameramen swarmed around a grey Mercedes that purred through the gates of the Philippine embassy in Baghdad, escorting de la Cruz from the United Arab Emirates embassy across the capital where he was dumped by his abductors.

"He is fine, he spoke to his family on the telephone," said the driver of the car after he parked by the two-storey embassy building, which has been besieged by reporters for the past week as the world waited to see in the Philippines' unprecedented gamble to...