Hell and high water for Filipino seamen
By Cher S Jimenez
HONG KONG - On Sunday, 18 Filipino seamen were abducted in the Middle East's
Gulf of Aden as a Korean cargo ship was attacked by pirates, representing the
latest incident in a spate of high-sea hijackings that threatens to stifle
crucial Middle Eastern-Asian trade at a time of global economic weakening.
As one of the world's leading labor exporters, the Philippines has been
particularly hard hit by the maritime lawlessness, with at least 110 Filipinos
taken captive since this July. So far 61 of them, including the body of one
Filipino crewmember killed during one of the takeovers, have been released
after ship owners agreed
to pay ransoms, according to Philippine Labor Secretary Marianito Roque.
A Philippine official who requested anonymity said that 26 additional Filipino
sailors were due for release by Somali pirates as their employer had agreed to
pay ransom. Seven vessels from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
and the US 5th Fleet now patrol the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden, where an
average of 106 vessels pass daily through the strategic waterway.
The increased presence of international patrols has done little to halt
ransom-seeking mainly Somali gunmen, as pirate attacks from the conflict-ridden
African nation surged this month, with at least six successful hijackings since
November 7, according to figures from the International Maritime Bureau.
Filipino sailors, whom Philippine government agencies estimate represent as
much as one-third of the world's shipping personnel, have become unwitting
targets of the pirate attacks. Official statistics from the Philippine Labor
Department show that about 270,000 overseas foreign workers (OFWs) are
currently employed by foreign maritime firms that transport oil, cargo and
passengers across the globe.
With over 9 million Filipinos scattered across 200 countries worldwide, the
Philippines is one of the globe's leading exporters of labor. Foreign
remittances topped US$14 billion last year, representing over 10% of national
gross domestic product. Filipino seafarers contributed an estimated $2.2
billion of that total, according to government statistics. Remittances by OFWs
had risen by 17.2% from January to August this year compared to the same period
in 2007, statistics from the Central Bank of the Philippines showed.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has expressed her hopes that OFW deployment
would top the 1 million mark to help the Philippines weather the mounting
global economic storm. Some say the desire to keep foreign remittances flowing
explains why her government has maintained a controversial no-ransom policy for
the growing number of abducted Filipino seamen.
Migrant organizations in the Philippines have asked the government to
temporarily stop the deployment of Filipino seamen to ships that cross the Gulf
of Aden. The government's no-ransom policy, meanwhile, stems from its dealings
with the homegrown Abu Sayyaf terror group, which has a long history of using
kidnapping for ransom to fund its operations.
Impractical policy
Arroyo's administration instead has responded by imposing limp new regulations
governing the deployment of Filipino maritime workers. The state-run Philippine
Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), an agency attached to the Labor
Department which regulates the deployment of OFWs, recently requested the
owners of foreign ships scheduled to pass through the Gulf of Aden to allow
their crew to disembark before reaching the pirate-infested waters or double
their hazard pay.
Critics, including a Filipino labor official in Hong Kong who also acts as a
consultant for recruitment agencies, believe that the newly implemented
measures miss the mark and offer scant protection for overseas workers in a de
facto conflict zone. Manny Geslani, a consultant to many shipping agencies,
says the new policy is "impractical" because no ship owners would actually
allow their crew to disembark, including in New Delhi, Mumbai or possibly
Mozambique, before completing their journeys.
In a telephone interview with Asia Times Online, Labor Secretary Roque admitted
that the safety of Filipino sailors is mainly at the mercy of the international
contingents now patrolling the Gulf of Aden. "We can't do anything about it.
It's the rest of the world that can protect them. [NATO is] running the whole
show," he said.
Despite the POEA's new policy permitting Filipino sailors to disembark to a
safe port before their ship crosses the Gulf of Aden, most still opt to brave
the danger in exchange for increased hazard pay. Filipino sailors make anywhere
between US$1,000 to $3,000 per month, considerably more than they could earn at
home and in lower-end jobs such as housekeeping and construction.
The willingness of Filipino sailors to shoulder the added risk speaks to the
growing desperation of OFWs to keep their jobs in a softening global economy.
Roque said that most ships that travel between Asia and Europe still choose to
pass through the Gulf of Aden despite the danger since a detour around the Horn
of Africa would tack a costly two weeks onto their journey.
Manpower agencies in the Philippines that deploy Filipino sailors have recently
appealed to Arroyo's government to request additional warships from the United
Nations to protect ships passing through Somali waters. However that
multinational protection isn't likely to come any time soon, analysts say.
"The government can't impose a ban on seamen because it can't monitor where
their ships are going. They just have to suffer the perils of the trade," says
consultant Geslani. He ventures the Philippine Labor Department is actually
loath to curb the deployment of more seafarers at a time an estimated 40,000 of
them, including a large number employed by luxury liners, are expected to lose
their jobs in the months ahead on the waves of a less buoyant global economy.
Cher S Jimenez is a Filipino journalist based in Hong Kong. She wrote for
the Business Mirror in Manila, Gulf News Manila Bureau, The Associated Press
and GMA7 online. She was a Yuchengco media fellow at the University of San
Francisco where she conducted research on undocumented Filipino migrants in
2007.
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