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| Southeast Asia | ||
| Philippines considering ban on sailor deployment | ||
| 2009-04-16 | ||
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita in his weekly news briefing said the Department of Labor and Employment and the Department of Foreign Affairs will be asked to study the “advisability” of such a ban. He said that based on a DFA report, 100 Filipino seafarers spread among seven ships are still captives of Somali pirates, who in the last two or three days have again seized three more merchant vessels—and some of the crew of these newly-captured ships are Filipinos. Ermita added that a Greek ship with 22 crewmembers was hijacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden on April 14, but it remains to be known how many Filipinos are onboard. “It’s getting to be very alarming in the sense that there are already 100 such Filipino seamen still under custody, and so we will ask the DFA and the DOLE for their specific recommendations on making an official pronouncement announcing that measure if that becomes very necessary at this moment.” Ermita added “there’s no foolproof action that we can take to really prevent” Filipino sailors from getting employed in such ships. For this reason, he said, the government has directed the DOLE “to ensure that there is contact with the local manning agencies and discourage them from bringing in Filipino seamen that will be plying the route in the Gulf of Aden and in the area where these hijackings or kidnappings are happening.” He said the Philippines is not contemplating moves similar to what the US and French governments had done to help their kidnapped citizens. Instead, it will monitor negotiations being done by the manning agencies and ship owners with the kidnappers since “our experience has been that we have not had any casualty from among those kidnapped by the Somali pirates.” So far, he said, “there have been a lot of successes in the negotiations being done by the manning agencies and the ship owners. You can see that the motive really other than just gaining mileage through media is ransom. And the manning agencies as well as the ship owners have been willing to pay,” he said. Ermita said, however, the Philippines continues to observe an official policy of not paying ransom as “it only encourages the kidnappers,” which is “the fact as far as the Somali kidnappers are concerned.” He added: “Of course the government will support whatever action the UN will take in order to address the problem.”
The Philippines is the biggest source of maritime manpower in the world . | ||
| Posted by:Seafarious |
| #5 Regardless of the question of how or why the Philippines has come to be the largest single source of maritime manpower, the fact remains that the Global Jihad has found a way to disrupt that portion of the supply chain of civilization. I'll note that Abu Sayyaf and Rogue Elements™ of the Moro Islamists have been ratcheting up the pressure within the Philippines itself. We haven't reported on a lot of it here at the 'Burg, but there's a whole lotta ugly going on "back home". I believe that these separate incidents are not really so separate after all. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2009-04-16 17:58 |
| #4 g: I know a bunch of Filipinas here in China, most of them make $450 a month or less. This is a major league comedown for them, considering that the Philippines used to be the richest country in East Asia (ex-Japan) back when it was an American territory. Of course, the way Filipino politicians explain it is part of the standard Third World narrative - they were plundered by the West and never recovered. Makes you wonder how places like Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong ever became developed countries. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2009-04-16 16:46 |
| #3 The number one export in the Philippines is it youth. They have it to an art form. Phils pay for the chance to work overseas, then they pay huge taxes each month to the government. It's human trafficking at its finest. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2009-04-16 14:20 |
| #2 ..sort of like working for ACORN then gromky. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-04-16 08:56 |
| #1 That's because the Phillipines is overpopulated and the people will take any crappy job they can get. I know a bunch of Filipinas here in China, most of them make $450 a month or less. Plus, awful working conditions: 7 days a week, no holidays, boss can grope you at work, passports confiscated, etc. But it's still better than being back home to them. |
| Posted by: gromky 2009-04-16 06:22 |