A Filipino truck driver held hostage in Iraq has been freed, a spokesman for the Iraqi National Congress said Tuesday.

"The (United Arab) Emirates embassy has freed the Filipino hostage," said spokesman Haider al Bandar. He could provide no further details.

A source at the Philippine embassy in Baghdad could not confirm that 46-year-old truck driver Angelo de la Cruz had been released.

(Xinhua News Agency July 20, 2004)