Monday, September 22, 2008
At least 17 Filipinos were taken captive in the latest piracy incident in Somalia this week, bringing to 97 the total number of Philippine sailors held as hostages. Nine have been freed and one has died in captivity, the foreign affairs department said.
The Filipinos are the biggest group of sailors held captive in Somalia, officials said. More than a dozen ships with more than 200 crew members are being held for ransom.
"We're doing everything to secure their early release," Claro Cristobal, a foreign affairs department spokesman, told reporters, adding the department was coordinating with the employers and embassy staff near Somalia.
The Philippines supplies one-third of the world's shipping manpower with about 180,000 men and women.
Global shipping groups have called on naval powers to do more to stop piracy off the coast of Somalia. Heavily armed Somali pirates have hijacked more that 30 vessels off the Horn of Africa country this year, making its waters the most dangerous in the world.
The sealane in the Arabian Sea between Yemen and Somalia links Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal and is critical to Gulf oil shipments.
Esteban Conejos, foreign affairs undersecretary for migrant workers, said Manila wanted the labour department to impose a ban on Filipino sailors boarding ships that sail regularly through the waters near Somalia.
Conejos said the international community must take action to provide adequate security protection to bulk carriers, tankers, cargo vessels and even private yachts that pass through the Gulf of Aden enroute to and from the Red Sea.
The Department of Labour and Employment has yet to act on the foreign affairs proposal, but any such ban will be difficult to implement.
Filipinos are also barred by the foreign affairs department from working in Iraq but thousands are employed there. (Reporting by Manny Mogato; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Valerie Lee)
Source: Reuters, Sept 22, 2008