Galaxy Leader heading towards Hodeidah port on Nov 22 after the vessel was seized by Yemen’s Huthi rebels (Photo: AFP)
By Ronald O. Reyes
Dec 1 2023
A Catholic maritime charity has expressed concern over 17 Filipino seafarers held hostage by Iran-backed Houthi rebels as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr skipped the global climate meet in Dubai to personally address the hostage crisis.
“In light of important developments in the hostage situation involving 17 Filipino seafarers in the Red Sea, I have made the decision not to attend the 28th Conference of the Parties in Dubai tomorrow,” Marcos said on his official X (formerly Twitter) account on Nov 30.
We are sending a high-level team to Iran with the aim of “providing necessary assistance to our seafarers,” the president added.
The Filipino seafarers were among the 25 crew members of the Bahamas-flagged and British-owned cargo ship, Galaxy Leader. Its owner is connected to Israeli businessman Abraham “Rami” Ungar and the vessel is operated by a Japanese firm.
The Yemeni Houthi militia has beefed up their attack against Israel since the war in Gaza started on Oct 7.
Earlier, the Houthis shot down a US military drone off Yemen’s coast. They control much of northern Yemen and the strategic Red Sea port city of Hodeidah.
The Iran-backed Houthis have been locked in a civil war with Yemen’s government, supported by Saudi Arabia, since 2014.
They have claimed responsibility for several cross-border missile attacks against Israel and the hijacking of Galaxy Leader on Nov 19.
President Marcos and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the Filipino seafarers are “safe”.
In a separate statement, the DFA said it was coordinating with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and foreign governments for their immediate release within the month or before Christmas.”
The other nationalities on board the vessel are from Ukraine, Bulgaria, Mexico, and Romania.
The United States has called for the immediate release of the ship and its crew and said the Biden administration was considering designating Houthi rebels as a terrorist outfit.
On Nov 26, global maritime Catholic charity Stella Maris asked people to “pray consistently for our government officials” to help them “liberate our hijacked seafarers.”
Let the officials have the patience to pursue “the welfare and well-being of our seafarers,” said Bishop Ruperto Cruz Santos of Antipolo, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines promoter of Stella Maris-Philippines.
“Let us pray constantly to God for the change of hearts of those armed groups,” added the prelate in a statement on Nov 26.
On Nov 30, Houthi rebels said the security and safety of international navigation in the Red Sea is linked to ending the war in Gaza. The group was responding to a statement by the G7 forum.
“The security and safety of the international navigation in the Red Sea, as well as the fate of the ship Galaxy Leader, are linked to the choices of the Palestinian resistance forces and what serves their goals in confronting the Israeli aggression,” the Houthis said in a statement aired by the group’s al-Masirah TV.
Hours earlier, G7 foreign ministers asked the Houthis “to immediately cease attacks on civilians and threats to international shipping lanes and commercial vessels and release the Galaxy Leader and its crew illegally seized from international waters.”
Filipino seafarers comprise over 25 percent of 1.5 million sea-based workers across the globe, topping the list from any country worldwide.
Filipino seafarers have been targeted before. In 2018, seven Filipinos were among crew members of a Swiss-owned vessel who were kidnapped by pirates off the coast of Nigeria. – UCA News
