CLAFRK FREEPORT –A former Kapampangan overseas Filipino worker (OFW) recalled his ordeal after he was kidnapped by Iraqi jihadist in Falluja in 2004 in the light of ongoing skirmishes in the civil wars in Syria and Yemen and the Iraqi insurgency.
The present Middle East crisis has continuously claimed the lives of thousands, mostly civilians, and placed thousands of OFWs in danger.
Angelo Dela Cruz, now 62, said he thought of nothing but his family during almost three weeks in captivity. He said he reminded himself that he was there because he was working for his family.
Dela Cruz recalled that he was driving an 18-wheeler oil tanker en route to Iraq from Saudi Arabia when three armed men flagged them down.
He said he was hesitant to stop but his armed security guard fled after one of the men pointed a rocket grenade launcher to his truck which was laden with fuel.
Dela Cruz’s kidnappers had demanded the withdrawal of the Philippines from the multinational force led by the US.
Then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo agreed to withdraw Filipino troops from the multinational force but US allies criticized the move.
Dela Cruz said he was released and brought to the United Arab Emirates embassy in Baghdad where he was met by diplomat Rafael Segis and then Armed Forces chief of staff Roy Cimatu, now environment secretary.
Arroyo hailed the release and dubbed Dela Cruz as the “Filipino everyman, a symbol of the hardworking Filipino seeking hope and opportunity” and remarked that she will not regret her government’s decision in handling the incident.
Dela Cruz was the guest of the Balitaan media forum organized by the Capampangan in Media, Inc. in cooperation with the Clark Development Corp. at the Bale Balita here last Friday.
Former Bulacan congressman Willie Villarama, who accompanied Dela Cruz to the forum, said he helped him get employment at Coastal Petroleum where he briefly worked as a driver after returning safely in the Philippines.
Villarama said he was always in touch with Dela Cruz especially after he rejected offers from movie producers to make his life into a movie.
Dela Cruz said he is now happily living with his wife Zeny and his children in Mexico, Pampanga. He plants rice in his two-hectare farm lot and drives a van ferrying passengers from Dau, Mabalacat City to Olongapo City and vice-versa.
The kidnapping of Dela Cruz led to the withdrawal of the Philippines from the multinational coalition led by the US and a deployment ban for Filipino workers seeking to work in Iraq.
Dela Cruz recalled that the last Filipino soldier to leave the multinational coalition and Iraq was the now detained Maj. Gen. Jovito Pallparan. He also denied receiving any money from the government.
