| MANILA, Philippines — Even as the 24 Filipino seamen are on their way to the Philippines after their 24-day captivity in Nigeria, Labor Secretary Arturo Brion has said that the deployment ban to the African country would stay.
The Filipinos are scheduled to arrive Saturday evening. Brion said two multinational oil companies operating in Nigeria have requested that the ban be lifted as they needed the expertise of Filipino engineers in their operations. He said company representatives have appealed to him and presented their own security measures to ensure the safety of their employees. �But I told them that they are not the problem. The problem is the political stability in their country; outside company premises is where they are kidnapped,� he said Friday. Brion said he was awaiting the security assessment of Nigeria from the Department of Foreign Affairs. �We need information from the DFA to make proper consideration of the ban. We don’t have people on the ground in Nigeria and we rely entirely on DFA for information. Until then, everything stays in place,� he said. Two more Filipinos — Josiebeth Foroozan and Winston Helera — are still in the hands of their kidnappers. |
Feb172007