MANILA (UCAN): Stella Maris, the Catholic maritime charity, has expressed concern over 17 Filipino seafarers held hostage, were among the 25 crew members of the Bahamas-flagged and British-owned cargo ship, Galaxy Leader, which was hijacked by Iran-backed Houthi rebels from Yemen on November 19. The rebels also claimed responsibility for several cross-border missile attacks against Israel.
On November 26 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,” he added in a statement on November 26.
On November 30, Houthi rebels said the security and safety of international navigation in the Red Sea is linked to ending the war in Gaza, responding to a statement by the G7 group calling for the Houthi rebels “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.”
“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.
Philippine president, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. skipped the COP28 [Conference of the Parties] 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 posted on his official X, formerly Twitter, account on November 30.
We are sending a high-level team to Iran with the aim of “providing necessary assistance to our seafarers,” Marcos said.
As we celebrate the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines. The Chaplaincy to Filipino Migrants organises an on-line talk every Tuesday at 9.00pm. You can join us at:
https://www.Facebook.com/CFM-Gifted-to-give-101039001847033
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 Galaxy Leader are from Ukraine, Bulgaria, Mexico, and Romania.
Filipino seafarers comprise over 25 per cent of 1.5 million sea-based workers across the globe, topping the list from any country worldwide.
The seafarers have been targeted before. In 2018, seven were among crew members of a Swiss-owned vessel who were kidnapped by pirates off the coast of Nigeria.
