Quotes of the Day

When Philippine truck driver Angelo de la Cruz was kidnapped by insurgents outside Fallujah on July 8 and threatened with decapitation unless the Philippines' 51 peacekeepers were pulled out from Iraq, Manila was presented with a wrenching and all-too-familiar dilemma. Similar demands were made of Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in April when three Japanese civilians were kidnapped in Iraq, but he refused to withdraw his 550 soldiers as their captors insisted (the hostages were later freed). Likewise, South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun last month would not submit to terrorists' demands that he cancel plans to send 3,000 troops to Iraq; as a result, a South Korean contractor who had been kidnapped in Iraq was beheaded.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo last week chose a different route. By recalling her country's troops a month before they were scheduled to leave, she may have saved De la Cruz, 46, a father of eight. But she damaged relations with Washington and may well have encouraged more kidnapping of foreign nationals. "This kind of action cannot be allowed to succeed anywhere in the 21st century, above all not Iraq," chided U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Why did Arroyo negotiate with the terrorists? (According to diplomatic sources, the government offered a $1 million ransom for De la Cruz but the insurgents turned it down.) Arroyo's own presidency may have been at stake just weeks after she won re-election to office. After De la Cruz was kidnapped, protests and prayer vigils calling for troop withdrawal were held all across the Philippines. Some 4,000 Catholic priests and bishops released a petition urging Arroyo to do everything in her power to gain his freedom. Rallies in the capital, Manila, were getting rowdier by the day. "The only logical explanation for this change in policy and her willingness to risk disappointing her allies is to tame the protests," says Representative Teodoro Casiño. Senator Rodolfo Biazon notes: "Had [Arroyo] not listened to the pulse of the people, she could have been toppled." Still, Roh and Koizumi stood fast, despite the political risks back home. By showing that kidnapping pays, Arroyo might find she has created even bigger problems—for herself and for her country's allies.

• Anthony Spaeth
• President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo chose a different route