Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. has ordered the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to submit to him a report to determine if there was “willful neglect” on their part regarding the case of the 22 Filipino seafarers who were left stranded off the waters in Hebei Province, China since last year.
(PCOO / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
“I’d like a report on whether this was willful neglect on our part or they were working for some f_____g Filipino recruiter,” Locsin said in a tweet on Sunday
Locsin was reacting to a report by CNN Philippines that the 22 stranded Filipino seafarers in Chinese waters are asking the Philippine government to help them to return home.
Quoting the captain of the Filipino-manned vessel, the report said some of the seafarers have already served beyond their contracts while the others have “serious medical conditions.”
Aside from a report on the case of the 22 seafarers, Locsin also ordered Undersecretary for Civil Security and Consular Concerns Brigido Dulay, Jr. to coordinate with the nearest Philippine consulate in Hebei province and bring home the stranded overseas workers.
Hebei province is located some 124 kilometers or one and a half-hour drive from Beijing where the Philippine Embassy is situated.
“This is the first we hear of this but we're on it. Now we know now they're totally safe and will come home. Period,” Locsin said in another tweet.
Dulay said the ship is anchored off Hebei, currently a COVID-19 hotspot, where Chinese authorities are reportedly “reluctant to disembark” the Filipino seafarers. He told Locsin in a tweet that they are now working to get a berthing permit from Chinese authorities.
“We’re working on options with the ship owners and agents and local authorities to bring our people home ASAP, as ordered by SFA (Locsin),” Dulay said.
A netizen who introduced herself as the wife of one of the 22 seafarers said her husband and the rest of the Filipinos on board the vessel have been stranded in the Chinese waters for about six months now. “We are worried about their physical and mental health. Please help our fellow seafarers to come back to their homes.”
In August last year, 11 Filipino seafarers from MV Ocean 86 were also left stranded for more than six months in Dongshan, Fujian province.
Migrant workers advocacy group Migrante International strongly demanded the immediate repatriation of the 11 seafarers and sought the filing of charges against their employers for allegedly subjecting the Filipinos to “horrendous suffering.”
The 11 Filipino seafarers were repatriated in September 2020.