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The Philippines is working closely with Nigeria to
obtain the freedom of 24 Filipinos seized by gunmen from a ship off
the coast of the African state, President Arroyo’s spokesman said
Wednesday.
“We assure the families of the
24 OFWs [overseas Filipino workers] that the Philippine government
will exhaust all available means to bring the victims home
safely,” Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said in a statement.
He said Filipino diplomats were
working closely with Nigerian authorities to negotiate for the
release of the Filipinos, who were crewmembers of the
Nigerian-flagged but German-owned cargo ship, the Baco Liner II.
Nigerian authorities were “on
top of the situation and we are confident they will be able to
persuade the abductors to release the hostages unharmed,” Bunye
said.
A ban on the deployment of
Filipino workers to Nigeria ordered Monday by the President in the
wake of the kidnapping will remain in place “until this problem is
settled and we given the assurance of the safety of our workers
there,” Bunye added.
On Wednesday the Department of
Foreign Affairs said Nigeria Foreign Minister Joy Ogwu has sent the
assurances of Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to Mrs. Arroyo
that his government would do all it can to free the Filipino
hostages.
Foreign Affairs Spokesman Eduardo
Malaya said Ogwu conveyed the assurance through the Philippine
Ambassador to Nigeria Masaranga Umpa.
In his report to the department,
Umpa said Ogwu asked that Manila entrust the negotiations to the
Nigerian authorities.
During the meeting between Umpa
and Ogwu, the foreign minister also asked the President to lift the
suspension of the deployment of Filipino workers to Nigeria.
There are 3,900 Filipinos working
in Nigeria, mostly in the oil industry.
Niger militants belonging to the
Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta boarded the ship on
Saturday. After taking command of the vessel they sailed it to the
town of Warri.
The militants took 17 of the
hostages ashore, leaving the captain, two cooks, and three other
crewmembers aboard.
The ship is anchored off Warri.
Malaya said that for the moment
there is no need to stamp Philippine passports with a travel
restriction to Nigeria.
The ban covers only workers and
not travelers, he said.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary
for Migrant Workers Estevan Conejos said Manila is leaving the
negotiations with the militants with the government of Nigeria in
keeping with Philippine government’s policy to not pay ransom.
--AFP, Francis Earl A. Cueto
and Sam Mediavilla
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