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Somalia is high-risk area for Filipino seafarers- Noli VP
Thu. September 25, 2008 03:19 am.- By Bonny Apunyu. -
(SomaliNet) The territorial waters of Somalia are high-risk area for Filipino seafarers due to the successive kidnaping incidents in the area, Vice President Noli de Castro declared yesterday.
Filipino seamen aboard shipping vessels that will cruise near Somali waters and the Gulf of Aden will be entitled to hazard pay, De Castro, presidential adviser on overseas Filipino workers, said.
"Our seafarers may sign off from boarding the ship if they feel their lives are in danger from pirates who may attack them. These are the measures we have discussed to safeguard Filipino seamen from Somali pirates," De Castro told reporters.
Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said the Governing Board of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) will convene for an emergency meeting to craft a resolution that will double the wages of seafarers as hazard pay.
"Under the resolution to be approved in one to two days is an amendment to the job contracts of seafarers who will be allowed to voluntary sign off from the last port where their ships would stop," he said.
Roque explained they cannot impose a deployment ban on seafarers in Somalia because those kidnaped by the pirates were on board shipping vessels passing near Somali waters and were not sent there.
Roque when asked about the conditions of the abducted seafarers, said they are not subject to maltreatment, open to communication with their respective families and allowed to do their usual work in the ship.
De Castro, together with other government officials and manning agencies, had drawn up precautionary measures in a meeting at the Associated Marine Officers’ and Seamen’s Union of the Philippines (AMOSUP) office in Intramuros to protect Filipino seamen from pirates.
Among those discussed were the government’s support to the proposal of the United Nations for ships to sail convoy to ensure the security of Filipino seafarers and other safety measures.
In a report, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the number of Filipino seafarers held near Somalia waters and the Gulf of Aden has gone up to 97.
The DFA said that some of the captured seamen were released by the pirates after ransom was paid by the ship owners. –Main
News Category: Somalia
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