A party-list group advocating for the rights and benefits of ship crewmembers on Saturday asked the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) as well as the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to immediately verify reports on the reported detention of 15 Filipino seamen in France.
In a letter dated January 7, 2022, Rep. Sandro Gonzalez, the nominee of the party-list group Marino, told Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre Bello III and Foreign Affairs Teodoro Locsin Jr. of that the Marino Action Center received information on the detention of the 15 crewmembers of M/V Truday that French authorities detained the 15 Filipino crew members of M/V Trudy after discovering cocaine in the ship during an inspection conducted on October 1, 2021.
“If the report that we received was true, then please extend assistance to the 15 so they can be reunited with their families here,” Gonzalez said.
He said of the 15 detained seafarers, some were scheduled to return to the Philippines on October 3, 2021, or just two days after the inspection.
Gonzalez also said reports reaching the party-list group alleged that some of the 15 jailed seafarers were physically harassed.
However, Gonzalez said the information he relayed to the two departments has not been confirmed adding that the DOLE and DFA have better facilities to verify the information.
“If the information were confirmed, please seek ways to have the detained Filipino seamen immediately released and brought home,”
Gonzalez told the officials in the letter dated Jan. 7, 2022.