Owner of oil platform where Pinoy workers were killed apologizes

MANILA, Philippines - The president of Black Elk Energy, owner of the ill-fated oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, has apologized for insinuating that the accident in November last year was a result of the incompetence of Filipino offshore oil workers.

The Philippine embassy in Washington said yesterday that Black Elk president John Hoffman apologized for the statement, which the embassy protested.

Philippine Ambassador Jose Cuisia Jr. made representations with the US Department of Interior to assure the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement that Filipino workers will give their full cooperation in the investigation of the Black Elk platform accident.  

“It was also Ambassador Cuisia who protested and obtained an apology from Black Elk president John Hoffman for the statement the oil executive had given to media attributing the platform accident to the incompetence and lack of English language skills of Filipino offshore oil workers,” the embassy said.

Embassy officials met on March 18 with leaders of migrant rights organizations supporting a group of Filipino offshore oil workers in Louisiana, who filed a class suit against their employer for alleged slavery and human trafficking.  

In a statement, the embassy said officials sat down with leaders of Justice for Grand Isle Shipyard Filipino Workers Campaign to listen to their demands and convey the Philippine government’s position on the case filed by close to 100 Filipino offshore oil workers employed by Grand Isle Shipyard and D&R Resources.

First Secretary and Consul Elmer Cato said the embassy was satisfied with the support extended to the Filipino workers.

The Justice for Grand Isle Shipyard Campaign was represented in the dialogue by Dante Simbulan and Josef Cadgugay of the Katarungan Center for Peace, Justice and Human Rights in the Philippines and Katrina Abarcar and Ann Beryl Corotan of Philippine Forum and the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns.

“The embassy shares their concern for the rights and welfare of Filipino offshore oil workers here in the United States – not just those involved in the class suit against Grand Isle but also the majority who have not joined the case,” Cato said.