DMW restricts deployment of Filipino seafarers amid Houthi attacks

Filipino seafarers will no longer be allowed to board ships owned by the same owners of previously attacked ships that were passing through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said Tuesday. 

At a press briefing, DMW Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said they may add other ship owners to the list following a review of past attacks on ships.

"We are reviewing 'yung talaan ng (the list of) other ships who have been subjected to attacks in the past few months," Cacdac said. 

The DMW in March issued guidelines for licensed manning agencies (LMAs) to observe should Filipino seafarers be assigned on ships that would ply high-risk and conflict areas.

Based on Department Order No. 1, the guidelines were released "in the paramount interest of the continued safety and well-being of all Filipino seafarers on-board ships and in light of the increasing incidence of piracy, hijacking, and/or armed violence against ships passing through the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and surrounding areas/waters."

The DMW directed LMAs and their accredited principals or employers primarily to consider avoiding the passage through the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and nearby territories.

The seafarers should also be given ample time, opportunity, and means to signify their intent to either continue with the voyage or refuse to join the ship in its scheduled passage in these areas.

"This measure is supposed to also emphasize the point that seafarer protection is paramount," Cacdac said during the press conference. 

"So, it's a matter of diversion of voyages, of routes and it's a matter of enhancing and call to action in terms of the presence of military or security forces in the relevant areas in the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea, and other security measures including proper threat and risk assessment reports," he added.

Cacdac warned that "harsher penalties" await those who would violate the directive.

"So they must have that aforementioned letter and there will be corresponding harsher penalties if they violate this requirement," he said.

At present, a Filipino sailor is still missing following the Houthi rebels' attack on MV Tutor, a Liberian-flagged and Greek-owned ship, earlier this month. The MV Tutor suffered serious flooding and was abandoned after it was struck by a sea drone off rebel-held Hodeida.

Twenty-one other Filipino sailors survived the attack on MV Tutor and are now home in the Philippines. 

The rebels also attacked MV Transworld Navigator over the weekend, but its 27 Filipino crew members were all safe, according to DMW. —KBK, GMA Integrated News