What some sailors do to survive pirate attacks

As media giant Cable News Network (CNN) showcases the Philippines on its "Eye On" special series, it tackles pirate attacks at sea, one of the issues affecting the country, as a third of the world's seafarers are Filipinos. On its report about "Pirate hostages vow to continue life at sea," CNN takes a look at how Filipino seafarers cope after becoming victims of pirate attacks, mostly in Somalia. In the report, Filipino seafarer Antonio Plaza Orozco recalled how their ship Mattheos 1 was suddenly boarded by a handful of pirates off the west coast of Africa just seven months ago. The report said the multinational crew, which had 14 Filipinos out of 25 members was held hostage for 11 days in their own ship.   Orozco, 52 was the senior crewman who bravely stepped forward when the pirates asked who was in charge. He was then beaten up with an AK-47.   He recounted to CNN how after being a seafarer for more than 22 years, he thought he was going to die when the gunman whispered in his ear: "I will cut your neck, I will throw you overboard."   Orozco said he tried to recall his trainings, simulations and classroom sessions, especially the topics about dealing with pirates. Anti-piracy training is required by the Philippine government.   He said he remembered that they were taught to make friends with pirates not "make war" with them.   Orozco said he told the pirates everyday, "My brother, my brother, please don't kill us. Please, I have family also." He said he even had a Bible study with one of the pirates who was a Christian. On September 24 last year, Orozco and his crew were released after 11 days in captivity. The pirates looted the ship then left.   Reydomingo Nuval, 30, another crew member of the same ship, said even though some horrible things happened while they were in captivity, he still chooses the life of a seaman.   "Going abroad as a Filipino, it's better. The salary there, we cannot find here. So by going abroad, you can easily build up your dreams, have a house, own a car, support your family and send your kids to a good school." Nuval told CNN. "If I get hurt, it's a part of life," he added. The starting pay for a seaman is around $1500 a month, something nearly impossible to obtain in an entry-level job in the Philippines.   Meanwhile, the Philippine Seafarer’s Union’s (PSU) leader, Melchor Villanueva said: “Anti-piracy training is not totally the solution." PSU, the second largest seafarer union of the country stated that a naval escort or private armed security is the real key to preventing such incidents to happen again. However, the union concedes that a naval escort is far off the budget of the Philippine navy and asking the ship’s government to protect its foreign seafarers in international waters is out of the question. Still, PSU will not be discouraging members to work at sea, even those who choose the regions which are frequented by pirate attacks.   Meanwhile, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) declared that pirate activity in Somalia has decreased by 50 percent from 97 incidents last year to just 43 for the months of January to March according to the website Save our Seafarers. They attributed the decrease of Somali pirate activity to the rise of West African piracy which IMB director Pottengal Mukundan described as “more violent." In Nigeria alone, there were 10 incidents in the first three months of the year. However, according to the IMB, Somalia is still the worst region for piracy which is responsible for 102 incidents worldwide including:

• 45 vessels boarded
• 32 ships attacked
• 14 fired upon
• 11 hijacked
• 212 taken hostage, and
• four hostages killed.