Palace nixes ransom for 22 Pinoys in Somalia

Malacañang has confirmed that a group of Somali pirates is asking for $2.8 million or almost P137 million in exchange for the release of the Greek-owned MV Irene and its 22 all-Filipino crew. But Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) should not pay for any part of the ransom being demanded by the pirates even if the ship owner is having difficulty raising the required money. The St. Vincent-flagged merchant ship MV Irene was hijacked off the Gulf of Aden last April 15. “We have to reiterate that we cannot depart from our no-ransom policy. Otherwise, we will just be encouraging kidnapping," Remonde said in a phone patch briefing from Sarangani, where a Cabinet meeting was held on Tuesday. He said President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has already ordered the DFA to “see to the needs" of the 22 Filipino seamen still being held hostage. “The President has directed the DFA to mobilize its organizational and other resources to attend to needs of our brother Filipino seamen in their time of distress," he said. The families of the victims have earlier appealed to the Philippine government, the United Nations, the African Union, and other international organizations to intervene for the release of the hostages. An online petition has even been set up for the release of the hostages and the growing problems of piracy. A similar petition has also been set up on networking sites such as Facebook. The number of Filipino seafarers being held hostage in Somalia have constantly yo-yoed as pirates continually hijack ships passing through the Gulf of Aden, slowly releasing vessels only after ship owners pay multi-million-dollar ransoms. The Philippine government is encouraging Filipino seafarers to exercise the option to disembark at any port before the ship they are manning passes through the Gulf of Aden, which has seen a rise in pirate attacks in recent months. In 2008, a total of 117 Filipino seamen on board 11 ships were seized by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden alone. All have been freed eventually. This year, Somali pirates also seized 233 Filipinos on board 16 vessels. Forty-two remain in captivity. According to the International Maritime Organization, 44 ships were seized by pirates in 2008 in various parts of the world, while more than 600 seafarers were kidnapped and held for ransom. - Kimberly Jane T. Tan, GMANews.TV