Bulletin: On the Arrival of Levante 7

12 March 2019 – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) shares the untold joy of the loved ones of the seven Filipino seafarers of the M/T Levante who were finally reunited with their families in the Philippines this evening.

The seven arrived in Manila on board a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul accompanied by Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers Affairs Abdullah Mama-o and Philippine Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Mardomel Melicor. They were welcomed home by their wives and children and Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III and Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Sarah Lou Arriola.

The seven were taken in August 2017 on allegations of fuel smuggling and have been held since then but were acquitted and ordered released last week by the Libyan High Court after a review of their case.

The DFA, through the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli, worked closely with Libyan authorities to secure their release and kept the families of the seafarers in the Philippines constantly updated. The Department also shouldered the cost of the repatriation of the seven from Tripoli and provided them with P100,000.00 each in financial assistance that was sourced from the P1-billion Assistance to Nationals Fund approved by the President. END

(DFA photos by Nilo Palaya)