|
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Pinoy sailors' deployment to Somalia continues
MANILA –- Despite the latest pirates' attack on another ship in Somalia, the government is still not inclined to impose a ban on the deployment of Filipino seafarers there.
Instead, Presidential Management Staff head Cerge Remonde said the government is working with the international community to find a solution to the piracy problem there.
What's your take on the Mindanao crisis? Discuss views with other readers
"The piracy problem has become an international problem of such proportion. The Philippines should join the rest of the countries in fighting this," Remonde said.
But he pointed out the ships attacked in Somalia do not come from Somalia itself but from other countries whose ships happened to pass along the area.
He also said the ships are not Philippine-flagged but belong to other countries and happened to include Filipinos in the crew.
"Remember that the attacked vessels are not Filipino ships. They are foreign ships whose crews include Filipino seafarers," he said.
Remonde said in the meantime, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will continue to be on the alert in helping seamen who get in trouble.
"We cannot bar Filipinos from boarding such ships. But in the meantime, the DFA will be on the alert to help seamen who get in trouble. The Philippines will work with the rest of the international community," he said.
More than two dozen ships have been seized by pirates this year off the Horn of Africa, including an arms-laden Ukrainian ship for which pirates have demanded a US$8 million ransom.
The continued seizures -- despite the presence of US warships -- highlight the difficulties of patrolling the waters off Somalia. The chief concern is that the brazen attacks could fuel terrorism and make one of the world's major shipping routes too dangerous and expensive to traverse.
Ships slow down off Somalia's northern coast waiting to enter the Red Sea en route to Arab refineries and the Suez Canal - a route used to transport more than 10 percent of the world's petroleum and Asian goods to Europe and North America.
Vice President Noli de Castro earlier appealed to international shipping companies "to take extra precautionary measures" and sail only within the Maritime Security Patrol Area in the Gulf of Aden, which is patrolled by warships and aircraft from a coalition that includes US, British and French forces.
The DFA said pirates seized the bulk carrier African Sanderling and its 21 Filipino crewmen on Wednesday. It said the ship is Panamanian-flagged, South Korean-owned and Japanese-operated.
The department said the hijacking brought the number of Filipinos being held by pirates to 66 on four ships.
Pirates have seized more than two dozen ships this year off the Horn of Africa, and more than 100 Filipino sailors have been taken in those raids. One died during an attack.
With more than 270,000 Filipinos on thousands of vessels around the world, Filipinos account for about a third of the international shipping industry's crews.
De Castro, who is also President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's adviser on overseas workers, has pushed for new measures to safeguard Filipino seamen, including doubling their pay when they pass through dangerous waters and giving them the option to disembark from ships before they head into pirate-infested waters. (JMR/Sunnex)
(October 19, 2008 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
