Father of abducted seaman seeks gov’t help

A desperate father from Capiz province went against the wishes of the recruitment agency and went public with his appeal for the government to help bring back his son and 22 other Filipino seamen taken by Somali hijackers in the Gulf of Aden last year.

Jesus Cusay Sr. of Poblacion, President Roxas town said that since the vessel boarded by his son Jesus Cusay Jr., 31, got hijacked in the gulf on Nov. 11, 2008, he had not received any report about him.

“We are worried for the safety of our son because the manning agency has warned us not to seek media’s help. I therefore appeal to the government to help him back home,” Cusay told reporters on Saturday.

The 23 Filipino seafarers were crew members of the MT Stolt Strength managed by Manila’s Victoria Ship Management, and a long-term charter to Stolt-Nielsen, one of the world’s largest shipping and seafood company based in Norway.

Sea Cap Shipping Inc. and Sagana Shipping Inc. recruited the Filipinos, most of whom were Ilonggos.

Cusay said the manning agency asked the seamen’s families not to report the incident to the media so as not to hamper negotiations between the shipping management and the Somali pirates.

But Cusay said his family could no longer stay silent because it had been four months since the hijacking but still no news on what happened to his son or if and when they were freed.

Cusay Jr. joined the Stolt Strength in July last year. His contract would end on Nov. 11, the father said.

Cusay Jr., single and the youngest of the six children of Cusay Sr. and his wife Lydia, was also the family’s sole provider, according to his father.

Vice President Noli De Castro on Thursday told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that he had ordered the Philippines Overseas Employment Administration to cancel or suspend the license of the manning agency that recruited the 23 seamen.

The vice president said he was surprised that the abduction had remained unsolved although it was one of the earliest incidents of hijacking.

De Castro noted that all other manning agencies and their principals have secured the safe release of their crewmen on board vessels that had been hijacked in Somalia.

Source: Inquirer.net