Capitol to help family of cargo ship worker

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu provincial government will extend assistance to the family of the Cebuano seafarer who died when a cargo vessel sank in the seawaters off southern Vietnam last Friday.

Governor Hilario Davide III said he will direct the Provincial Social Welfare Development Office to look into the needs of the family of Third Officer Jerome Maquilang Dinoy who hailed from Cordova town.

While concerned agencies are also attending to the needs of the family, the province would still help.

“Unsa pod ang matabang sa probinsya, we will also extend help. We will get in touch with the family of the seaman,” Davide said.

Psychosocial intervention, for instance, can extended to the bereaved family, as well as to the family of the three other Cebuanos who remain missing, as of yesterday – Renator Flores Toribio of Bantayan, Renner Carl Resos Abugadie of Mandaue City, and George Barbaso Espliguera Jr. of Cebu City.

Apart from Dinoy, the Department of Foreign Affairs identified the other fatality as Captain Ronel Acueza Andrin.

The Bahamas-flagged carrier Bulk Jupiter was sailing from Malaysia to China sank with 19 Filipino crewmembers. The ship’s cook, Angelito Rojas, is the only known survivor. Search operation is still being conducted for the 16 others.

In a report of TV5 aired yesterday, Marlon Roño, President of Magsaysay Maritime Corporation, said the company is not certain yet when the bodies of the two Filipinos can be transported to the Philippines as there are still processes to go through. The bodies are still in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

Roño said neighboring countries have sent additional jets to augment the search effort for the missing crew members. – (FREEMAN)