Ban on deployment to Nigeria stays - Palace

The deployment ban on Filipino workers bound for Nigeria stays even after the release Tuesday of the 24 Filipino seamen held hostage by militants in the Niger Delta, Malacanang said Wednesday. Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the ban would not yet be lifted because abductions in southern Nigeria continue, threatening the safety and security of Filipinos already working in the African state. The seafarers, snatched on Jan 20 by armed militants claiming to be members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, have been turned over by Nigerian authorities to Philippine Ambassador Masaranga Umpa and Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Esteban Conejos Jr Tuesday afternoon soon after the German cargo ship Baco Liner II berthed at the Nigerian Port Authority in Warri. They are expected to be back in Manila by early Saturday evening. In a report on dzBB radio, Bunye, concurrently the presidential spokesman, noted that two other Filipinos abducted separately by armed men in Nigeria’s River State remain in the hands of their abductors. ‘’The deployment ban stays because two other Filipinos are still held by their captors. And the incidents of kidnapping in Nigeria is still high, it is not yet safe for our Filipino workers to go there and work,’’ Bunye said in the dzBB report. Instrumentation engineer Winston Helera, 51 years old, was kidnapped on February 6 in Owerri while on his way to the airport in Port Harcourt where he was to take a flight to Lagos for a vacation. Josiebeth Gregorio Foroozan, 37 years old, was taken the next day near a supermart and a bank some two kilometers away from her home in Port Harcourt. There has been no word on the whereabouts of Foroozan. Her younger sister in Manila, Jane Gregorio, asked the Philippine government on Monday to help repatriate her sister’s Iranian husband and their two children aged 14 and 11 in view of threats they received from men believed to have snatched her sister. Conejos said the Philippine government remains in touch with the employers of Helera for negotiations on his release. He also said he is still checking the claims of the abductors of Foroozan, who is married to an Iranian businessman and has been living in Nigeria for 17 years, that she fought back with his abductors and jumped off a creek with no trace of her body. Foroozan's family does not believe she is dead, as claimed by her abductors in a phone call to her husband. Philippine diplomatic representatives in Nigeria are still trying to locate Foroozan. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo promptly ordered concerned authorities to stop the deployment of Filipino workers bound for Nigeria following the Jan 20 abduction of the 24 seafarers in Warri, the capital of Delta State. Processing of contracts for Nigeria-bound workers were also ordered stopped, but a Filipino worker in Kano, Nigeria said a batch of Filipino workers arrived Saturday (February 10) in the city, which is quite a distance from the Niger Delta. In a press statement from the presidential palace in Manila, President Arroyo expressed relief over the release of the 24 seamen. She assured their families that the seamen would be sent back home as soon as their travel documents are in order. She likewise thanked the Nigerian government for helping facilitate the release of the seafarers. The 24 were released by their captors - the Federated Niger Delta Ijaw - Tuesday. They reached the port of Warri Tuesday night (Manila time) onboard the German vessel Baco Liner II. Radio reports said they would leave Abuja, Nigeria on February 16 and are expected to arrive in the country early Saturday (February 17) evening. The seamen were abducted from the Baco Liner II on January 20 as it was cruising the Chanomi Creeks in Warri, south west of Delta State. Their abductors, the Ijaw, an ally of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, made four demands which included the release of former governor of Bayelsa state, chief Diepreye Alamieyeshiega and leader of the Niger delta People’s Volunteers forces, Alhaji Mujarhedeen Asari-Dokubo. Vanguard Nigeria reported in its website (www.vanguardngr.com) Wednesday that the seafarers’ abductors claimed they intercepted and held the Baco-Liner ship because it was ‘’suspected to be conveying arms and ammunition, imported by top politicians in the country, to destabilize the (April) 2007 general elections in the region.’’ ‘’Ordinarily, the Movement (for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta) would have alerted the Nigerian security agency but decided to embark on this action because the Movement has lost confidence in the Nigerian security agents...After thorough investigations were conducted, (we) discovered several containers of explosives concealed in other consignments in the cargo ship,’’ a statement signed by the group’s leaders Tamuno Godswill and Oyinye Alaebi said. Another Nigeria-based media entity, This Day Online (www.thisdayonline.com) also quoted the two leaders as appealing to ‘’Filipinos to see their abduction as being caught in a cross fire in a place that promotes injustice.’’ It also said the MEND has asked foreign countries operating in Nigeria to ‘’move fast and evacuate’’ their nationals. The group said it might not be able to ‘’distinguish between oil workers and other people when (we) commence (our) next attacks.’’ The seafarers’ kidnappers claim the hostages were released ‘’without any ransom from any quarters’’ to show that the move was based on humanitarian grounds. -Joan Dairo, GMANews.TV