Duterte orders DFA to look for Pinoys abroad stranded in ships

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday ordered the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to seek out Filipino seafarers who are stranded abroad amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Duterte lamented that several Filipino workers, particularly Filipino mariners, who have been stranded overseas and infected with the coronavirus disease.

“There are Filipinos, itong mga seafarers, karamihan ito nai-stranded, naiwan sa barko. And they were not allowed to dock or magdiskarga ng intended cargoes nila for a certain destination because of COVID. And they were contaminated, and some who were not escaped, and others who stayed in the ships, and just bear it all. Ito yung mga Pilipino na two years, three years, 'di makauwi,” the President explained in a televised address.

This bad situation was made worse given that foreign ports would not allow these Filipinos to step ashore, leaving them ill and stranded aboard ships out at sea.

“Now I would like to direct the Foreign Affairs Department… Kindly check and do a validation report kung mayroon bang mga Pilipino na na-stranded sa inyong lugar, in the area of your responsibility. I’d like you to check, go around if there are Filipinos who are stranded in the different ships,” said Duterte.

“Paki gawa na lang, do what you can, whatever that effort is, try to just go out and help [these stranded] Filipinos.” — DVM, GMA News