2 Pinoy oil workers freed in Nigeria

LAGOS (AFP) — Two Filipino oil workers captured in restive southern Nigeria last week were released on Sunday, a local government spokesman told Agence France Presse.

"They have been released a bit earlier today," Rivers State spokesman Emmanuel Okah said by telephone, adding that security officials were accompanying the men to government headquarters in Port Harcourt, capital of oil-rich Rivers State.

"Government officials and diplomats from the Philippines embassy are there waiting for them," he said.

The Philippine Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Manila that overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) Joseph Villoria Doctolero and Pacifico Fresnido Gajo were released at 3 p.m. (Abuja time).

Ambassador to Nigeria Masaranga Umpa said Doctolero and Gajo were then joined by the embassy consular team and representatives of their employer Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) in a convoy going to a clinic where the two oil workers were given food and medical treatment.

The Filipino workers were also joined by two of their colleagues and the consular team for consultations and debriefings.

The DFA said Doctolero and Gajo will return to the Philippines within this week as the embassy completes the necessary travel documents.

DFA records showed that the 37-year-old Doctolero is from La Union while 36-year-old Gajo is from Sorsogon.

The Filipinos are employed by Beaufort International under a contract with the Norwegian oil services company PGS.

A PGS company spokesman, speaking in Oslo, confirmed to AFP the men’s release and described them as being "in good health."

PGS staff were in direct contact with both men, who will be reunited with their families as soon as routine health examinations are completed, spokesman Ola Boesterud said.

There was no confirmation on whether a ransom was paid for their release.

The two Filipinos working near Port Harcourt were abducted on Tuesday in Aker, near a navy base in the city, by six armed men in a speedboat, but no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

A group claiming responsibility for a slew of previous abductions, the separatist Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), has denied being involved.

Since January, the Niger delta region has seen a wave of attacks against foreign companies and their employees, launched by armed separatists and local communities demanding a larger share in oil revenues and compensation for the destruction of their ecosystem by oil exploration.

The violence has claimed the lives of two Nigerian workers and some 30 security officers.

So far this year 31 oil workers, including the two Filipinos, have been kidnapped. All previous hostages were released unharmed after spending several days in captivity.

The latest kidnapping of Filipino workers by an armed group happened four months after one Filipino oil worker was held captive along with several foreign co-workers.

Filipino oil worker Anthony Santos and five other hostages were freed March 1 after being held captive by Nigerian militants last Feb. 18.

Militant youths belonging to the MEND released along with Santos two Egyptians, two Thais, and one of three Americans. All of them work for the American oil service Wilbros Group.

The commander of the militants had previously declared a war on all foreign oil interests in the Delta.

Port Harcourt is the hub of the country’s multibillion-dollar oil and gas industry in the Niger Delta, where several major oil firms have their operational bases.

Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer and the world’s sixth exporter with a daily output of 2.6 million barrels, most of which is derived from the Niger Delta.

But output is down by 25 percent due to the unrest.

The Rivers State administration, headed by governor Peter Odili, led negotiations with the kidnappers to secure the men’s release.

Earlier Sunday a navy spokesman said that security services had been in touch with the kidnappers, although publicly they have not been identified. — With Pia Lee-Brago, James Mananghaya