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Only 78 Filipino seafarers refused to board ships sailing in waters at risk of Houthi attacks

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Katrina Domingo

ABS-CBN News

<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">MANILA -- Only 78 Filipino seafarers refused to board ships that would pass through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, where several vessels have been attacked by Houthi rebels, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said on Monday.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The Philippines earlier enforced a &quot;right to refuse&quot; policy so that Filipino seafarers could refuse to accept deployments to dangerous waters without legal repercussions from employers or ship owners.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;One reason could be yung hazard rates, double ang suweldo,&quot; DMW Secretary Hans Cacdac told state-television PTV.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Cacdac did not mention how many of the 560,000 Filipino seafarers worldwide are deployed to ships traversing waters where Houthi rebels have been launching attacks in solidarity with Hamas fighters in Gaza.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Since last year, at least four vessels with Filipino crews have been attacked by the Houthis. Two died, one remains missing, while others are still held hostage by the rebel group.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/6/17/21-rescued-seafarers-from-houthi-hit-ship-back-in-ph-1-remains-missing-1230"></a><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/6/17/21-rescued-seafarers-from-houthi-hit-ship-back-in-ph-1-remains-missing-1230">READ: 21 rescued seafarers from Houthi-hit ship back in PH; 1 remains missing</a></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/6/14/marcos-jr-vows-safety-for-filipino-seafarers-in-houthi-hit-ship-2010"></a><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/6/14/marcos-jr-vows-safety-for-filipino-seafarers-in-houthi-hit-ship-2010">READ: Marcos Jr. vows safety for Filipino seafarers in Houthi-hit ship</a></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;We have prohibited those whose ships have already been attacked from hiring Filipino workers to board ships,&quot; Cacdac said.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;We want to make sure that only the safest, most risk-averse, most protective ship owners should be able to pass through that area with Filipino seafarers on board,&quot; he said. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The DMW said it is &quot;carefully balancing the policy in such a way that shipowners and seafarers will be free to navigate&quot; despite threats to their safety, he added.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;Dapat mayroong proteksyon, mayroong armed guards, risk and threat assessments bago isubmit sa amin.&quot; </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Filipino seafarers make up around 25 percent of seafarers across the world, according to data from the DMW.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The number of registered Filipino seafarers in 2023 was at 560,000, exceeding pre-pandemic numbers which was pegged at around 510,000, data showed.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><a href="http://READ: DMW monitoring situation after commercial ship reportedly attacked by Houthis"></a><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="http://READ: DMW monitoring situation after commercial ship reportedly attacked by Houthis">READ: DMW monitoring situation after commercial ship reportedly attacked by Houthis</a></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><strong>RELATED VIDEOS:</strong></span></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tlWzds9bQQA?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sWa-O7bl9Ng?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div>

<p>Only 78 Filipino seafarers refused to board ships that would pass through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, where several vessels have been attacked by Houthi rebels, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said on Monday.</p>

Only 78 Filipino seafarers refused to board ships that would pass through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, where several vessels have been attacked by Houthi rebels, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said on Monday.