TWELVE Filipino fishermen, arrested and detained for five months by Indonesian police authorities last year, returned to their families on Monday.
Officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Migrant Organizations accompanied the parents of the 12 young fishermen upon their arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport – Terminal 2 Monday night.
The young fishermen arrived on board Philippine Airlines PR-540 flight from Jakarta around 7:35 pm Monday.
One of them, identified as Darwin Manihog, narrated that a recruiter named Nick Leones recruited them in October from General Santos City, offered them to work as fishermen in Indonesia and promised a good salary.
But when they arrived in Indonesia in November, they were arrested and jailed.
Last week, the Philippine Consulate General in Manado repatriated 65 Filipino fishermen apprehended by maritime enforcement agencies in Bitung for alleged illegal fishing activities.
The Consulate General also repatriated 689 Filipino fishermen for the same reason last year.
The Indonesian government has intensified its anti-illegal fishing campaign following President Joko Widodo’s creation of the Anti-Illegal Fishing Task Force in October 2015.