Gov’t working with allies to free 17 Filipino seafarers

Usec. Eduardo De Vega, Department of Foreign Affairs

The government is now working with envoys of other countries to negotiate for the release of 25 seafarers, 17 of them Filipinos, who were seized by Houthi rebels as their cargo vessel M/V Galaxy Leader sailed across the Red Sea, a Department of Foreign Affairs official said on Tuesday.

At a press briefing in Malacañang, Foreign Undersecretary Eduardo De Vega admitted there was no progress so far in the negotiations, as the captors were supposedly demanding a halt to the ongoing war in Israel.

READ: DFA: PH won’t abandon 17 sailors held by Houthi rebels

“One concrete effort we’re undertaking is we’re also working with the ambassadors and the governments of the other countries with hostages aboard—the Romanian, Bulgarian, Mexican [and] Ukrainian government [but] there simply seems to be no solution other than what they [Houthi] demand,” he said.

The 17 Filipinos have been in captivity since November 2023. —MELVIN GASCON