by Cecil Morella
MANILA, July 22 (AFP) - Angelo de la Cruz, a poor Filipino truck driver who sought greener pastures in the battlefields of the Middle East, will arrive home a national hero Thursday after a harrowing 17-day hostage ordeal in Iraq.
Officials said the 46-year-old would fly into Manila on board a commercial aircraft at 12:55 pm (0455 GMT) after a brief stopover in Abu Dhabi, where he had an emotional reunion with his wife and brother.
His hometown of Mexico, north of the capital, declared a holiday for the return of the father of eight, who became an icon to ordinary Filipinos as their government turned its back on its US ally to bargain with kidnappers.
Presidential aides said President Gloria Arroyo is to join de la Cruz on Saturday for a pilgrimage to a Roman Catholic shrine in the northern Philippines town of Rosales to thank God for his deliverance.
De la Cruz, one of millions of Filipinos who have gone to work abroad to escape poverty in their Southeast Asian country, was kidnapped by Islamic militants on July 4 while driving a fuel truck into Iraq from Saudi Arabia.
Masked militants paraded him tied and garbed in an orange prison-style uniform on Arab television three days later. They threatened to behead him unless Arroyo ordered the pullout of the Philippines' 51-member contribution to the US-led occupation.
Ignoring the warning of foreign allies that dealing with "terrorists" would invite more attacks in the future, Arroyo capitulated to stop street protests at home that were seen as having the potential to destabilize her government.
The last of the contingent left Iraq on Monday. A day later, the kidnappers dumped the emaciated de la Cruz at the gates of the United Arab Emirates embassy in Baghdad.
"The president's decision was based on the interest of the Filipino people, especially our overseas Filipino workers," Arroyo spokesman Ignacio Bunye said on local radio Thursday.
He said surveys held during the hostage crisis showed that "on the whole at least 70 percent of Metro Manila residents approved of her (Arroyo's) decision. Church groups and almost all Filipinos supported the president's actions."
De la Cruz flew out of Iraq and was reunited with his wife Angela and his younger brother Jesus at a hotel in Abu Dhabi late Wednesday, Labor Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas told local radio in a telephone interview.
"It was an emotional reunion," said Santo Tomas, who had accompanied the two family members to the Middle East. "They embraced and cried. They fielded a few questions from reporters, and then they retreated to their room."
Twenty-five members of the de la Cruz clan left their village and drove for Manila aboard a luxury bus provided by the government early Thursday to welcome the former hostage, DZBB radio reported.
Meanwhile US ambassador to Manila Francis Ricciardone "departed today for Washington for consultations about US-Philippine relations," embassy spokeswoman Ruth Urry told AFP.
She said Secretary of State Colin Powell wanted to discuss with the envoy matters pertaining to Iraq, and Ricciardone would also take a few days' leave before returning to Manila.
"He has not been recalled," Urry stressed.