Waiting and praying for the Filipino hostage
Manila (AsiaNews/Agencies) People are still waiting and hoping that Angelo de la Cruz, the Filipino hostage captured by Islamic terrorists, may soon be free. According to an official from the Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs, the hostage should be considered safe and no longer at risk of beheading. Filipino public opinion and Christians are following the dramatic event with trepidation. The Church urges all to pray, be close to the family, and support the government's decisions.
"His life is no longer in danger," said the Filipino official who is in Baghdad as part of the negotiating team.
In recent days, many churches have celebrated masses and organised prayer vigils for the release of the hostage, Father David Farfan, a Combonian missionary from Peru in the Philippines for the last three years, told AsiaNews. "During the Congress of the Clergy that ended a few days ago, all the priests about 5,000 in all celebrated mass and held a prayer vigil for the hostage." The entire country, including Muslims, is united hoping for a happy ending.
"Among the many expressions of support for the hostage," Father David adds, "I was especially moved by the prayer vigil that brought together Christians and Muslims on Sunday 11, in Manila. It was broadcast by Filipino television and later picked up by the Al Jazeera Network. During the vigil a well-known and beloved Filipino actor, Robin Padilla, a Muslim, appealed to the captors asking them that the hostage be released. He went as far as offering himself in exchange for him. Padilla added that this terrible deed will have negative repercussions in the country and might compromise the long and patient work of reconciliation between Christians and Muslims that started 10 years ago." A joint Christian-Muslim commission has been in fact working on peaceful conflict-resolution in Mindanao, a predominantly Muslim island.
The abductors' deadline expired Monday evening. Since then they have remained silent. So far the Filipino government's attempts at saving the hostage have been marred by ambiguities and contradictions vis-à-vis the abductors' demand that the Philippines withdraw its 51 troops from Iraq, a process already scheduled for August 20. Yesterday, the Filipino Deputy Foreign Secretary Rafael Seguis said that the withdrawal would start "as soon as possible". Today, the Filipino government announced that its troops were beginning a coordinated withdrawal from Iraq reducing them from 51 to 43. Foreign Affairs Secretary Delia Albert said in a statement that her department "is prepared to coordinate the pullout of the humanitarian contingent in collaboration with the Department of National Defense."
"The Catholic Church of the Philippines," said Father Farfan, "not only invites everyone to pray but also urges the population to back the government's strategy. The Church especially asks everyone to provide moral support to hostage's family and respect their grief."
Angelo de la Cruz, 46, hails from Pampanga province, north of Manila, and was working in Iraq as a truck driver. "He is Catholic with 8 children and his family is of poor," Father David added worried for the fate of the de la Cruz family. "He had gone to Iraq like many other Filipinos to make some extra money and feed his family."
"Filipino president Gloria Arroyo had the family of the hostage taken to a military base so that they may go through the present ordeal without the prying eyes of the Medias." Father Farfan went further citing Gaudencio Rosales, Archbishop of Manila: "Peace is built on concrete signs, one of which is helping a brother in need, going beyond oneself to think about the other." (MR)
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20/07/2004
