by Jay Deshmukh
BAGHDAD, July 21 (AFP) - A freed Filipino hostage who was threatened with beheading said he was treated well by his kidnappers during his days in captivity in Iraq.
"I can say that it was hard but I have nothing against them (kidnappers) as their treatment was very well," Angelo de la Cruz told AFP in an interview at the Philippine embassy in Baghdad, late Tuesday after his release.
Dressed in a red shirt and jeans, the truck driver looked tired but at ease in the embassy surrounded by Philippine officials, a team of negotiators who secured his release and some of his colleagues who were in Iraq at the time of his abduction.
Describing his abduction, the father of eight said he was kidnapped on the road between Baghdad and the city of Hilla to the south.
"They made me stop the truck and then put me in a car and took me to an unknown place somewhere," De la Cruz said through a translator.
"At that time I must admit I thought I may not return to my normal life, but then I received excellent treatment from them and they said that I was a good person which is why I think I was released."
He thanked his government for agreeing to the kidnappers' demand of withdrawing the Philippine military from Iraq one month ahead of schedule.
"I thank the president for her decision to withdraw the forces," De la Cruz said, vowing he would not return to Iraq any time soon.
The release of De la Cruz was also a result of intervention by Sunni tribal leaders who say they appealed to his captors through loudspeakers in mosques in the flashpoint city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad.
"We asked the government of the Philippines to give us a role in negotiating his release," Sheikh Jamal al-Dulaimi, the general secretary of the Iraqi Tribal Leaders Council, told AFP.
"We started by appealing to the kidnappers through mosque loudspeakers in Fallujah requesting to hold off the beheading, as we were told the Philippine government was ready to withdraw its forces."
The sheikh said the abductors became convinced about Manila's seriousness and brought the hostage out of the chamber where he was to be beheaded.
"Soon after that he was released and dropped at the United Arab Emirates embassy to ensure his safety," he said.
De la Cruz was kidnapped by a group calling itself the Khalid Ibn al-Walid brigade after a military leader during the Islamic conquests in the 7th century AD.
Earlier he said he was happy to be a free man again.
"I am fine and relaxed. I am extremely happy and I can't say anything more than this," he said in a small room at the Philippine embassy just a few hours after his release.
He was heard speaking to officials in Manila on the telephone saying over and again: "Thank you, thank you. I am happy to be free."
His release was announced less than 24 hours after the last of a tiny contingent of Philippine soldiers and police crossed into Kuwait from Iraq heading home as demanded by the kidnappers.
Manila's decision to bow to the militants' pressure to pull out its 51-strong contingent drew sharp rebukes from Baghdad and Washington who feared it would only further fuel a hostage crisis that has engulfed Iraq since April.
The Philippine government has ignored the criticism, saying its actions were consistent with its national interest.