On the Filipino Hostage in Iraq

A Pall of Gloom Over Buenavista

Around 9:30 p.m., July 13 (Tuesday), the lone mobile phone left in Angelo dela Cruz’s household rang. Beth Reyes, sister of Angelo who was held hostage in Iraq, hurriedly answered the call. Looking distraught after the phone conversation, she ran outside the house. After about five minutes, she came back but refused to talk to the media.

BY DABET CASTAÑEDA
Bulatlat.com

TEARS AND PRAYERS. Relatives and neighbors of Angelo dela Cruz hold prayer vigils day in, day out for his release. Photos by Dabet Castañeda

MEXICO, Pampanga – Rain poured hard the night of July 13. Relatives and neighbors of Filipino hostage Angelo dela Cruz who were gathered at the front yard of the dela Cruz household rushed inside nearby houses to avoid getting wet. Some stayed under the large tents put up by television crews who were covering the scenes that unfolded from the family home. Others got soaked in the rain as they tried to save some chairs and tables from getting wet.

As the rain subsided, silence filled Barangay Buenavista, five kilometers away from Mexico town proper in Pampanga. Waiting for an announcement from the government about the fate of Angelo in the hands of his Iraqi captors, the neighbors and relatives stayed put and held a prayer vigil.

At around 9:30 p.m., the lone mobile phone left in the dela Cruz household rang. Beth, Angelo’s sister, answered the call. Looking distraught after the phone call, she ran outside the house toward the other street. After about five minutes, she came back but refused to answer queries from the media.

Initially Beth denied the call came from her youngest brother Jesus dela Cruz (nicknamed Jessie). Government authorities sent Jessie and Arsenia (Angelo’s wife) on July 12 to Dubai so they could be closer to the hostage scene in Iraq.

In confidence

At the strike of dawn on July 14 (Wednesday), as I sat down the bamboo sofa and watched the latest news on television, Fely, Angelo’s cousin and one of his closest kin, offered instant noodles for breakfast.  

But before she could do that, she offered a piece of news. “Huwag kang maingay (Please be quiet),” she said, “sa iyo ko lang sasabihin ito (I will only say this to you).” Apparently, I had earned her trust.  

Fely confirmed that the call came from Jessie and that he told his relatives that he and Arsenia were coming home on July 14. “At huwag daw kaming mag-alala dahil kasama na nila si Angelo pag-uwi dito (And we should not worry because Angelo will be coming home with them),” she said.  

But Fely was quick to say that the family would rather keep quiet about the information. They would not want to cause any false hopes and did not want another wrong information coming from their end.  

Cynical  

“Ayaw muna naming maniwala at ayaw muna naming umasa (We do not want to believe it for now and we do not want to expect anything at the moment),” she said as she also informed Bulatlat.com that Jessie was not able to see or hear from Angelo either.  

“Sawa na kami sa balitang ganyan (We are tired of stories like that),” she said adding that these kinds of reports only tend to pacify their anger.)  

Fely, 46, whom everybody in the household and the media call Acheng (eldest sister in the Kapampangan language) is only a few months older than Angelo.  

She calls Angelo her kababata. They grew up together in their grandparents’ home in Buenavista, a small rural village ringed by fields of palay and sugarcane.

She recalled that when news broke out early Sunday morning that Angelo was released by his Iraqi captors, she refused to believe it. She told her relatives not to rejoice until Angelo came home.  

As the eldest in the family, she would entertain visitors and the media, offering everyone food, coffee or even a couch for anyone who wants to rest.  

She is used to this role, she said, but her hardest task for now is how to keep her family intact and sane what with the misinformation they are getting from the government.  

“Sa sobrang puyat at kakaisip, baka magkasakit na kami nito (Due to lack of sleep and worry, we might get sick),” she said.  

Furious  

Fely also admitted their family supported Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during the May presidential elections. “Siyempre, cabalen siya (Of course, she is a fellow Kapampangan),” she said.  

But she appeared critical of the President’s support for the U.S. war in Iraq. According to her, the order to pull out the Philippine humanitarian contingent from Iraq is too late.  

“Kung ipu-pull-out, dapat noon pa (The pullout should have been done a long time ago),” Fely stressed.  

The order for a pullout is just for show, Fely added. “Pauuwiin nila ang mga militar tapos sisisihin nila ang mga Iraqi kapag may nangyari sa pinsan ko (They will send home the military and then blame the Iraqis if something happened to my cousin),” she said.

In doubt

The hundreds of relatives and neighbors who staged prayer vigils and bible studies every night since Thursday in front of the dela Cruz home, nursed a general feeling of anxiety as the government imposed a news blackout.  

They felt being kept hostage by the government for not providing them any information about their kin.  

“Parang naghihintay na lang kami na umuwi dito si Angelo na pugot na ang ulo (It’s like we are waiting for a decapitated Angelo to come home),” an elder neighbor said.  

They said they have the right to any information regarding Angelo and his children who were taken away by government officials last July 9 (Friday). Reports indicated they were being kept incommunicado in an undisclosed place in Clark in the Angeles City, also in Pampanga.  

No sleep  

While preparing lunch for the family and visitors, Yolly Reyes, 46, cousin of Angelo’s mother, complained that she had not been able to get a good sleep since July 8, the day Angelo was captured in Iraq.  

Yolly, who also worked as a domestic in Saudi Arabia eight years ago, said she does not believe in any of the reports that Angelo is safe. “Hangga’t hindi ko sya nakikita, hindi ako matatahimik at hindi rin ako makakatulog (As long as I don’t see him, I will not have peace of mind and I will not be able to sleep),” she said.  

Full of compassion  

For all the mixed emotions triggered by false alarms and misinformation, the only thing constant was the feeling of compassion for Angelo and his family.  

Angelo’s aunt, Violeta Legaspi, could not hold back her tears when she acted as spokesperson for her family during a press conference at the dela Cruz front yard in the evening of July 13. “Kawawa ang mga anak ng pamangkin ko kung mawawala ang tatay nila (Woe to the children of my nephew if they lose their father),” she said between sobs.  

Angelo has eight children, one of them in college, another in high school and two others in elementary. His first child Judith is married with one child. His second son, Julysses, is out of school while his third child Jenny went to Japan in April to work as an entertainer. His youngest son is stricken with down syndrome.  

Beth said this is the third time Angelo went abroad to work as a truck driver. The first was in 1989 when he stayed in Riyadh for three years. He came home for two months in 1992 but left for Riyadh again for another six years.  

Since 1998, Angelo spent the next five years in Mexico as a jeepney driver. However, in 2000, Angelo’s seventh son, Jeric, then three years old, met an accident that caused his left eye to go blind. The attending physician told Angelo that Jeric could only be operated on when he reaches the age of six.  

Forced to work abroad again, he went to Saudi Arabia in April 2003. Jeric turned seven this year and prior to the hostage-taking incident, Angelo was still working hard as an oil tanker driver for a Saudi company to raise money for his son’s operation.  

For now, the family’s concern has gone beyond Jeric’s operation, since Angelo’s life is at stake as the whole world waits in anticipation. The people, deprived of information from the government, cannot help but ask: Could he make it back home? (Bulatlat)

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