Thursday, July 08, 2004 RP stops sending workers with Iraq hostage crisis
MANILA (12:10 p.m.) -- The Philippines stopped on Thursday its deployment of workers to Iraq with unverified reports that militants in the war-torn country have hostaged a Filipino.
President Arroyo had ordered the labor department to "completely stop the processing of workers bound for Iraq," spokesman Ignacio Bunye said in a radio interview.
The abductors have threatened to behead the man within 72 hours unless the Philippines withdraws its troops from Iraq, several media agencies outside the Philippines have already reported. But Philippine authorities said they have yet to confirm whether the man is a Filipino.
Bunye, said the Philippine Cabinet will be convened within Thursday to decide what to do with the situation.
"The safety of our nationals is the primary consideration," Bunye said.
Bunye said the government is awaiting a report from an envoy in Iraq for details of the reported abduction.
Qatar-based Arabic satellite TV Al-Jazeera reported Wednesday gunmen have abducted a Filipino man working in Iraq and have threatened to kill him unless the Philippines withdraws its forces from the country within 72 hours.
In a videotape, the kidnappers also said they killed an Iraqi security guard who was with the Filipino. They said the Filipino is an employee of a Saudi company working with U.S. forces, Al-Jazeera reported.
The Philippines is a firm ally of the United States and has 50 military personnel stationed in Iraq since last year. Possibly up to 4,000 Filipinos, some of them undocumented, are working there.
Three Filipino workers have been killed and three soldiers wounded in Iraq since last year's occupation. Before this hostage crisis, the Philippines has just suspended this month a ban on the deployment of overseas workers to Iraq.
