DFA works out meeting with 20 Filipino crewmen detained in Libya

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano. AP FILE PHOTO

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) vowed on Wednesday to assist the 20 Filipino seafarers recently detained in Libya for alleged fuel smuggling.

READ: DFA to extend assistance to 20 Filipino crewmen detained in Libya

Libyan authorities have assured the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli that the seafarers detained on Sunday are in good condition and are being treated well, the DFA said in a statement.

“Chargè d’Affaires [Mardomel] Melicor was given the assurance by our Libyan friends that our seafarers are in good condition and are being treated well,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said.

Cayetano said he had instructed the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli to “exert all efforts to secure the immediate release of the seafarers and to extend all possible assistance to them.”

The DFA chief said Melicor had met with officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Libya on Tuesday to request consular access to the Filipinos who were detained after their oil tanker was intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard for allegedly trying to smuggle more than 6 million liters of fuel.

According to Cayetano, the detained seafarers would be made available to embassy officials once the custodial investigation being conducted by the Libyan Attorney General’s Office is completed.

Cayetano said Libyan authorities also promised to provide as soon as possible the names of the detained seafarers whose photographs were published in Libyan newspapers.  JPV