The Marcos administration expressed optimism on Saturday that the 17 Filipino seafarers being held hostage by Houthi rebels in Yemen will be freed soon.
In a news forum in Quezon City, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega cited the ongoing diplomatic efforts of several countriea trying to ensure their safe release of the hostages.
De Vega said they are exhausting all efforts to ensure the release of the 17 Filipinos seized by the Yemeni rebels in the Red Sea.
“We’re using diplomatic [means] with various countries… there is no issue of paying ransom – this is a political gesture; it’s not the first time they’ve done it. In previous occasions, our seamen have always eventually been released so we’re confident about this. It’s only a matter of time,” De Vega said.
“Now, we see that their real purpose they said is to indicate their support for the Palestinians. Their message to all countries is that we should be opposing the Israeli actions in Gaza.”
De Vega linked the issue to the initial release of hostages by the Hamas group in Gaza, describing it as breakthrough, as he expressed elation on President Ferdinand R. Marcos’ announcement of the release of a Filipino by the Gaza militants.
The release of Filipino Jimmy Pacheco among the first batch of Gaza hostages was done also because of the foreign affairs department’s diplomatic representations with various governments, he said.
“We particularly thank State of Qatar for this move. So, just to emphasize, the DFA has been successful; it also led to the early departure of our Filipinos from Gaza – 111 have left and then there maybe as many as 10 leaving this weekend,” De Vega said.
According to the foreign affairs official, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) under Officer-in-Charge Hans Cacdac, is working through their MWs abroad and also with the Overseas Filipino Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to fund the return of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Israel, Lebanon, and also from West Bank, including the two Filipino who arrived Friday.
De Vega asked the public to have faith in DFA’s assurances that those in precarious situation will be brought to safety and eventually repatriated to the Philippines.
“You saw with Mr. (Gelienor ) Pacheco that because of the standing we have and our strong bilateral relations with each country, we are granted certain favors or concessions or nice gestures which we truly appreciate,” he said. PND
