MANILA, Philippines — The government is being urged by the families of the still-missing Filipino crew of Gulf Livestock 1 to support their call on the ship's owner to check the vessel for trapped bodies.
"Our very urgent request is to check on the ship because we cannot discount the possibility they may have been trapped inside," Maya Addug-Sanchez, sister of the sunken vessel's captain Dante Addug said during an online forum organized by Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Thursday.
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Addug-Sanchez revealed that the families of the missing crew members have been writing directly to the ship's owner, the United Arab Emirates-based Gulf Navigation Holding PJSC, but received what she characterized as non-committal replies.
"We have been writing the ship owner as well as the principal and I feel like they’re toying with words. They're writing us back but you don’t really see the genuineness because if they are really genuine enough to help us, they could have already employed this equipment, this high-tech devices to check on the ship," she said.
While Addug-Sanchez acknowledged the government's support through its coordination with foreign countries such as Japan and China, she emphasized that the families' most urgent request is to have the boat checked and that they need the government's help to convince the ship's owner to do so.
"I feel like if we had the full support of the government and if…the ship owner and the principal can see that our government is supporting that call, I think they would feel... pressured [to do so]," she said.
"Its very unfortunate and I feel sad and frustrated because there is no response to our request," Addug-Sanchez added said in a mix of English and Filipino.
Gulf Livestock 1 was bound for China on September 2 but sank off the coast of Japan after being struck by Typhoon Maysak.
There were 43 crew members onboard, 39 of whom were Filipino. Two New Zealanders, an Australian and a Singaporean make up the rest of the crew.
So far, two survivors and one fatality, all Filipinos, have been confirmed by the DFA through the Japanese Coast Guard. The remaining 36 Filipinos, along with the four foreign crew members, have been missing for over a month.