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REUNITED with her husband Roberto,
chief engineer of the ship seized by rebels in Nigeria, Jocelyn
Arcangel said she and her family would take a holiday before
deciding on their future.
Roberto was
among the 24 Filipino seamen recently released after being held
captive at gunpoint for 24 days. They flew home Saturday to an
emotional reunion with loved ones.
“We will
have a very long family vacation after this incident and we’ll
decide after whether he [Roberto] should leave again,” Jocelyn
said.
“My sons
don’t want him to leave anymore. It was very traumatic. We have
not heard from them for a long time and there are fears that they
were harmed,” she said.
Roberto said
he just wanted to be with his family before declining to talk
further with reporters.
Glenda Cagas
said her husband, Herculano Cagas, the ship’s third engineer,
would probably ship out again after resting in Manila, despite his
traumatic ordeal.
“It is
difficult, but we don’t have any other choice. We need the
livelihood for the family,” Cagas said, noting that their two
children aged six and four have yet to enter primary school.
“The hardest
part for us was when we saw them on cable television being
threatened with guns by their captors in masks,” she said.
Looking
haggard after their ordeal but smiling and waving, the men were met
by government officials and a throng of journalists after
disembarking from a commercial flight at the Ninoy Aquino
International Airport.
“We are very
happy. Thank you very much President [Gloria] Arroyo,” they said
in unison to an explosion of camera flashes.
They were
quickly taken to Malacañang and tearfully reunited with family and
friends.
Gunmen seized
the oil workers on January 20 from a Nigerian-flagged, German-owned
cargo ship off the coast of Nigeria.
They were held
captive under constant threat by masked gunmen in muddy swamps of
the oil-rich Delta region, as Philippine and Nigerian negotiators
worked for their release.
It is still
unclear who was responsible for the seizure, although a high-profile
militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta,
has fingered a rival outfit identified as Fndic.
The men
declined to comment on negotiations that led to their freedom on
February 13 for fear of jeopardizing the safety of two other
Filipinos seized separately. Filipino diplomats are in Nigeria
working to free them.
A Filipina
woman was abducted on February 7 in Port Harcourt in Rivers State.
Gunmen abducted the woman from the center of the city, at the heart
of Nigeria’s oil industry.
A day earlier
a Filipino employee of Netco Dietsmann—the Nigerian arm of a
Monaco-based oil services company—was seized from a company car
heading for the airport in Owerri, the capital of Imo State.
Nigeria is one
of the biggest employers of Filipino workers in Africa, with some
3,900 Filipinos employed there at the end of 2006.
The
Philippines is one of Asia’s biggest exporters of manpower, with
an estimated eight million of its citizens working as maids,
seafarers, oil rig workers and in other labor-intensive jobs.
President
Arroyo has banned further deployments to Nigeria in the wake of the
kidnappings.
On Sunday she
instructed embassy officials assigned in conflict areas to ensure
the safety of Filipinos in their areas.
Besides
Arcangel and Cagas, the crewmembers of Baco Liner 2 are Ruben Roble,
master; Elmer Nacionales, chief officer; Carlos Abellana, 2nd
officer; Mauro Agacid, 3rd officer; Cirilo Nebit, 2nd engineer;
Edilberto Gaspi, electro tech officer; Sukarno Landasan, Rogelio
Garcia, Jonel Bernales, Manolo Isidro, Marlon Mendez, Ronaldo Corpuz,
Joven Hidalgo, Jose Talde, Samson Mayo, Henry Sebastian, Jonie
Saguid, Edgardo Ellera, Evelio Nacionales, Marcelino Caladman,
Nelson Aquino and Herman Valez.
The President
said the government would maintain close watch over the welfare of
Filipino workers worldwide.
“We continue
to pray with the same fervor for the remaining hostages in Nigeria
in the hope that their situation will also come to a happy
ending,” she said.
The President
also thanked the officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs who
were involved in the release of the Filipino seafarers.
“To those
who work to ensure the safety of our Filipino men, thank you,
particularly Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Estevan Conejos Jr. and
Special Ambassador to the Middle East Roy Cimatu,” she said.
 --AFP
and Sam Mediavilla
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