Secretary Locsin Welcomes Home Al Buraq Crewmen as DFA Heads on to Repatriate More From Middle East

11 January 2020 — Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. welcomes home the 12 Filipino crewmen of Al Buraq 1 seized by Iranian authorities last September 2019, in a luncheon held yesterday at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). The crew members were accompanied by their relatives.

"I am relieved to know that your ordeal is over," Secretary Locsin said. “To reassure you, the Department was working round the clock to make sure we get you out of harm's way the soonest. Now that you are all here, as a manner of thanksgiving, we are having this lunch.”

Upon instructions from the DFA, the Philippine Embassy in Tehran monitored the condition of the seafarers, visited the detention center, provided welfare assistance, and secured the necessary legal representation to effect the immediate release of the seafarers.

The repatriation of the ten crew members took place last 27 November and 02 December 2019, while the last two arrived 05 January 2020. The crew’s offshore supply ship was seized for alleged fuel smuggling.

During the luncheon, also attended by Undersecretaries Brigido Dulay and Sarah Lou Arriola, Secretary Locsin made known that the DFA is sending teams to Iraq, Iran, Libya, and Lebanon to guarantee the speed of the repatriation and the safety of the Filipinos that it is bringing home.

"President Duterte already made an order because he cares. He calls them 'my' OFWs'. The DFA is responding as efficiently and effectively. Such is the nature of our work with regards to Assistance to Nationals. We go there. We go in harm's way so our kababayans like you are out of harm's way. We go there so your rights are respected and protected. We go there so you are given the due process before the courts. We go there whenever, wherever, in the service of the Filipinos all over the world," Secretary Locsin concluded.

The seafarers and their next-of-kins expressed their profound thanks and appreciation. They also handed a letter of thanks for the President which Secretary Locsin promised to hand to him personally on their behalf. END

(DFA photos by Nilo Palaya)