The Department of Migrant
Workers (DMW) assured that it will uphold the Filipino seafarers’ right to
refuse to venture into high-risk or war-like areas, reminding crewmen that they
can be repatriated upon request.
Following the devastating attack on the MV True
Confidence, which left two Filipino servicemen dead and three others injured,
DMW Usec. Bernard Olalia said that the agency has ongoing policies that
regulate deployment for dangerous areas.
“Kapag ang isang barko ay dumadaan sa
tinatawag na war-like areas or high-risk areas – nandodoon po iyong right to
refuse to sail onboard ng isang seafarer at siya po ay puwedeng ma-repatriate
kapag in-invoke iyon at any time na bago makarating doon sa tinatawag na
high-risk or war-like areas – iyon po ang ating sinusubaybayan at
ini-implement,” Olalia said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public
briefing.
(If a boat passes by a war-like or high-risk
area, a seafarer has a right to refuse to sail onboard, and they can be
repatriated if they invoke that right at any time before they reach the
high-risk or war-like areas—that is what we are monitoring and implementing.) “Iyong
karapatan na iyon ay ibibigay natin sa seafarer at sisiguraduhin natin na kapag
in-exercise iyon ay ipapatupad,” he said. (That is a right given to seafarers
and we will ensure that it is enforced.)
Olalia
said that ideally, the right to refusal should be implemented at any time and
without conditions.