DoLE hits ban on RP seamen as 3 more seized

By Kristine L. Alave
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: April 21, 2009

MANILA, Philippines—Barring Filipino seafarers from ships in the pirate-infested seas off Somalia could “kill” the sea-based recruitment industry, said Labor Secretary Marianito Roque.

It would not be feasible to impose such a ban, Roque said, noting that 25 percent of foreign cargo vessels passed through Somalia’s Gulf of Aden.

“It might kill the industry,” he said in a media briefing Monday.

Meanwhile, a Belgian ship, the 65-meter Pompei, has fallen into pirate hands about 150 kilometers north of the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean.

A reconnaissance flight Saturday by a Spanish naval helicopter showed that the Pompei was towing a much smaller vessel—thought to be a pirate boat—and was headed toward the Somali coast some 700 km away.

The captain of the 1,850-ton vessel is Dutch while the rest of the crew are three Filipinos, two Belgians and four Croatians. It was the first Belgian ship to be seized by Somali pirates.

The Philippines is a major crewing source for international shipping lines, with some 35,000-40,000 Filipino seafarers aboard vessels all over the world.

Roque said that contrary to reports, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) still had not received an order from Malacañang imposing a deployment ban.

He said the DoLE would meet with industry representatives and stakeholders to review the contract for seafarers and discuss measures to protect them.

Roque said the standard employment contract did not specify the routes to be taken by a vessel and they were looking into the possibility of mandating ship owners and recruiters to specify the itinerary.

Another option would be to put an “addendum” at the bottom of the contract, which would prohibit a seafarer from joining a ship traversing Somali waters, he said.

Roque was scheduled to meet with European ship owners who were meeting in London Monday night.

Over 100 Filipino seamen are still in the hands of Somali pirates, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said it favored a total deployment ban, a proposal that the labor department nixed last year. Instead of a complete ban, the labor department ordered shipping lines to allow workers to disembark if they did not want wish to pass through the Gulf of Aden.

Somali pirates attacked more than 130 merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden last year, an increase of more than 200 percent on 2007, according to the International Maritime Bureau which tracks piracy. With Agence France-Presse