THE five Filipinos who were released by Somali pirates on Sunday are now in the custody of officials and are awaiting repatriation, Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said on Monday.
Jose said the Filipinos are set to arrive in the Philippines on October 28. They will undergo some medical tests and psychological debriefing before they will be repatriated.
Jose said the five Filipino seafarers were received by DFA Undersecretary Jesus I. Yabes together with Philippine Embassy in Nairobi chargé d’affaires Uriel Norman R. Garibay and other DFA officials, at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport upon arriving in Nairobi after four and a half years of captivity in the hands of Somali pirates.
Arnel Pregellana Balbero, Elmer Salvador Balbero, Antonio Auxtero Libres, Jr., Edwas Akes Tininggal Jr., and Ferdinand Jacinto Dalit were among the 29-man crew of the Omani-flagged FV Naham 3 that was hijacked on March 26, 2012 while traversing the Indian Ocean some 65 nautical miles south of Seychelles.
Aside from the five Filipinos, the crew was made up of Cambodian, Chinese, Indonesian, Taiwanese, and Vietnamese seafarers. Of the 29, one died during the hijacking while two others succumbed to illnesses while in captivity.
“We are pleased that the five Filipinos are now with us and that they are safe. We have scheduled them for medical tests and psychological debriefing to at least start their way to a full recovery from this ordeal,” Yabes said.
Efforts for their release began immediately after their capture in 2012 with Oceans Beyond Piracy, a project of One Earth Future Foundation, spearheading the negotiation.
However, due to several security issues and the multi-national component of the case, it took a long time for the case to be resolved.
The five Filipinos will be turned over officially to Yabes and the DFA on Tuesday, October 25, after undergoing medical checkup and will be repatriated back to the Philippines on October 27, where they will be met by Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto R. Yasay, Jr. and their families.