MANILA — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) yesterday admitted that Filipino workers may still manage to work in Nigeria despite the deployment ban imposed by President Arroyo last week.
“The ban covers only land-based deployment. It does not cover ships that are just passing through or making port calls,” DFA spokesman Ed Malaya said in Filipino in an interview on a local radio station.
Arroyo ordered a temporary halt to the export of Filipino workers to the west African country after gunmen seized 24 Filipino crew members of a German-managed cargo vessel off Nigeria’s troubled Warri region.
Malaya explained that the deployment ban did not guarantee the exclusion of Filipino sailors from being hired by shipping companies whose vessels pass via Nigerian ports. Still, he said the deployment ban would stay until Nigeria’s government can come up with a “better security environment” or at least “improvements” in security arrangements.
Undersecretary Esteban Conejos yesterday also reiterated on national radio that negotiations remained the best option in securing the safe release of the kidnapped Filipinos.
Conejos earlier said the Philippines has asked the Nigerian officials not to attempt a military rescue so as not to endanger the lives of the hostages.
“The Nigerian government has agreed. They said they will exhaust all peaceful means of resolving this crisis,” he added.
Malaya said there are indications the abductors may release the seamen soon, as past experiences showed the abductors generally release their captives after 11 days.
“If we look at patterns, at this time the seamen would likely have been released,” he said. The abduction of the 24 seamen took place a week ago.
Despite the ban, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has reportedly relayed to Philippine Ambassador Masaranga Umpa that jobs in oil fields will still be available to Filipinos once the crisis is over.
