9 Pinoys in Indian Ocean mutiny surrender

The nine Filipino seamen who staged a mutiny and took control of a fishing vessel in the Indian Ocean from its alleged abusive Taiwanese ship captain surrendered in Port Louis in Mauritius on Tuesday and will be repatriated, Vice President Noli de Castro said yesterday.

De Castro, presidential adviser on overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), said in a press conference that Vice Consul Bernadette Mendoza of the Philippine Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, reported that the representative of the vessel’s owner promised to repatriate all nine Filipino seamen who were identified as Roderick Sumang, Edwin Lee, Sherilo Moraleja, Delter Algay, Socrates Silan Jr., Dennis Tolentino, Noel Cusi, Jose Menpin and Jesus Manaqued.

The sailors took over the vessel Ruei Thih Fa from its Taiwanese captain Jui-yin Huang last Sunday.

The ship had departed last Oct. 31 from the Indian Ocean nation of Mauritius for what was to be a three-month fishing expedition.

But the Filipino sailors locked their Taiwanese captain in a room and seized control of the steel-hulled ship on Sunday —four days into the trip —because of exhausting labor, paltry meals and meager pay, Filipino crew leader Sumang said.

In her report to De Castro, Mendoza said the ship arrived last Tuesday at 3 p.m. at Port Louis and the passengers were brought to the Waterfront Police Station Department where negotiations started shortly after the vice consul arrived.

“This is good news as no one got hurt from this unfortunate incident. We want to make it clear that our government does not condone mutinous acts, but we have the duty to protect all of our citizens wherever they may be and protect their rights and welfare.

Kaya pinadala natin kaagad ang ating consular team from Nairobi,” De Castro said.

De Castro said that he is not in any way condoning any act of the OFWs in taking the law into their own hands.

“As OFWs, our fellow Filipinos must obey the laws of the land where they are working. And they should answer for whatever violations they have committed, if any,” he added.

Mendoza also reported that the parties took into consideration the cases of nine workers and of another Filipino Alfredo Franco, who was not in the ship’s manifest and was not a participant in the staged takeover.

She said that the reached agreement, as reflected on the police report, was that the captain will not file criminal actions against the nine seamen, pay for their airfare worth $720 each, and shoulder their food and lodging while everything is being processed for their return.

The captain, however, made it clear that he will not pay the salaries of the sailors that could reach $150-200 each per month. The Filipinos agreed that they will just take the airfare instead so that they could finally go home.

In the case of Franco, a skilled worker who has not been receiving his salary for seven months now, De Castro said the captain will return his passport, pay his seven-month salary, reimburse the amount deducted for the supposed free airfare ticket as stipulated in his contract, and pay for his airfare to Manila.

The parties were scheduled to meet again yesterday to finalize the settlement of the case.

De Castro assured that the different cases of so-called abuses against the OFWs will be acted upon.

“Ako’y naniniwalang hindi naman talaga hangarin ng ating mga kapwa Pilipino ang manakit at sila ay napilitang lang gawin ang nangyari,” he said.

De Castro also urged prospective OFWs to follow the legal process after the Filipinos were found not to have passed through the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) for document processing.  – With AP, AFP