A Filipino hostage in Iraq has been released after almost eight months in captivity, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo announced Wednesday. Robert Tarongoy, an accountant for a company that caters for the Iraqi army, was kidnapped on Nov. 1 along with American Roy Hallums from their office in Baghdad after a gunbattle killed an Iraqi guard and an attacker. A Nepalese and three Iraqis were also abducted but later freed. "Finally, Robert Tarongoy is going home after a long time,"Arroyo told reporters. "He is now in the hands of our Iraq crisis team. They're arranging how Robert Tarongoy can go home," she was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
