Maintain contacts with Somalia

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang has directed the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to maintain contact with the government of Somalia and other channels to help secure the release of Filipino seafarers held hostage by pirates.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said that the DFA is establishing communication with its contacts in the region as well as the employers of the Filipino crew on board the Bunga Melati Dua chemical tanker, which was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden last Tuesday.

“Our normal course of action is for DFA to maintain contact with the government of Somalia and through our contacts, to get in touch with the employers of these people who in turn would be the one to help negotiate with the hostage takers as had happened before so that we can get an idea what are the conditions under which they can be released,” Ermita said.

Ermita noted that efforts made in the past in similar hijacking incidents have been successful.

It was reported that the vessel owned by MISC Bhd of Malaysia was hijacked by heavily-armed pirates in the Gulf of Aden while it was heading for Rotterdam from Dumai, Sumatra.

A total of 29 Malaysians and 10 Filipinos were on board the vessel.

On Thursday, pirates hijacked another vessel, this time a Japanese-owned tanker supposedly carrying 16 Filipinos on board.

“The office of Secretary Romulo with the help especially of Undersecretary Steve Conejos is the one in charge of this,” Ermita said.