9 Pinoys in Indian Ocean mutiny home tonight

Nine Filipino seafarers who mutinied and took over a fishing vessel in the Indian Ocean will arrive home tonight, the Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.

Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Esteban Conejos Jr. said Roderick Sumang, Delter Alday, Dennis Tolentino, Edwin Lee,

Cirilo Moraleja, Jesus Baniqued, Socrates Silar, Jose Mempin and Noel Cusi were scheduled to leave Port Louis in Mauritius at 11:20 p.m., Mauritius time yesterday.

They are set to arrive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport at 10:30 p.m. from Dubai.

Vice President Noli de Castro, who is also the presidential adviser on overseas Filipino workers, announced on Wednesday that the nine seamen would be repatriated.

In a report to De Castro, Vice Consul Bernadette Mendoza of the Philippine embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, said the representative of the vessel’s owner promised to send home all nine Filipino seamen.

Based on the agreement reflected in the police report, the captain will not file criminal actions against the nine seamen, pay for their airfare costing $720 each, and shoulder their food and lodging while everything is being processed for their repatriation, she added.

However, Mendoza said the captain, Jui-yin Huang made it clear that he would not pay the salaries of the nine seamen that could reach $150-$200 each per month. 

The Filipinos agreed that they would just take the airfare instead so that they could finally go home, she added. 

The parties took into the consideration the cases of nine seamen and of another Filipino Alfredo Franco, who was not in the ship’s manifest and was not a participant in the mutiny, Mendoza said.

Last Sunday, the Filipinos took over the vessel Ruei Thih Fa because the Taiwanese ship captain had reportedly been abusive and did not pay their wages.

After surrendering, the seamen were brought to the Waterfront Police Station Department in Mauritius, where negotiations with the owners’ representative and the ship captain took place.   – Pia Lee-Brago