I imagine that all it takes is one phone call to pull out the already largely-symbolic Philippine "humanitarian mission" out of Iraq to save Angelo de la Cruz's life. That's fifty-one people -- not entire battalions of marines or mercenary-type security guards. Surely it can't be too difficult to withdraw now, or even a month before their slated departure (August 20).
At this point, it does not matter -- certainly not to his kidnappers -- that the poor de la Cruz is simply a truck-driving OFW and is not involved in combat; the salient fact is that the Arroyo administration is still kowtowing to Bush's illegal war of occupation and is still happy to send OFWs to their uncertain fates in Baghdad, hoping to reap some "postwar" petrodollars.
The real tragedy here is that this could have been avoided. Filipinos are neither invincible nor innocent of any crime -- we may know the latter to be untrue, but the kidnappers, I imagine, don't see this. All they see is Gloria tripping over her heels to join the coalition of the willing, and that is enough.