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Esteban Conejos Jr., DFA undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs, said the recommendation was made on August when the series of kidnappings and piracy occurred in the Gulf of Aden.  

 

"The department recommended to the [labor department] the possibility of coming up with a ban on deployment of land-based and sea-based workers in Somalia and also writing into the contracts of our seafarers that they should not be entering this dangerous water. These proposals are now under study by the department of labor," he said in an ANC interview. 

 

He said DOLE will still have to look closely into the recommendation, saying that the labor department also plans to consult with the shipping community. 

 

“Our seamen go all over the world so we have to look on this more closely on how we could possibly enforce a more safe course for all of them. So, it might take some time but as I’ve said we have already made this recommendation to the department of labor,” he added. 

 

He said the DFA also sent DOLE a copy of the advisory containing guidelines issued by the naval coalition forces in the area to ensure the safety of the seafarers when entering the dangerous waters of Somalia. 

 

He said the advisory contains the following guidelines: 

 

• To adhere very closely to a corridor, a narrow corridor through which ships should pass on their way up to the Swiss Canal to the Red Sea;

• The ships should not enter the 200 economic exclusive zone of Somalia, it is a dangerous area;

• There are more moves to conduct actually intensified naval patrol operations in the Gulf of Aden to protect the maritime ship in that area;

• Authorities are now trying to put up a convoy type of operations so when a ship enters the corridor it should join the other commercial vessels.

 

He said it is now up to DOLE to follow the DFA recommendation or not. 

 

 

Conejos, meanwhile, assured that the Philippine government is continuously working for the release of two more Filipino seamen seized by pirates in the Gulf of Aden near Somalia over the weekend.

 

The two Filipino seamen were among the crew of Hong Kong-flagged MT Stolt Valor hijacked by Somali pirates on Sunday. The DFA said it is now trying to contact the family of the Filipino seamen. 

 

Reports said MT Stolt Valor was on its way to Mumbai from Suez when the pirates forcibly took control of the ship.

 

MT Stolt Valor is the latest vessel to be hijacked in the Gulf of Aden. 

 

Reports said there are now more than 50 Filipino seamen who are being held by pirates off Somalia.