44 Pinoy seafarers repatriated from Miami to arrive Thursday

Forty-four Filipino seafarers from a beleaguered casino ship temporarily docked in a United States port have been repatriated and will arrive in Manila on the morning of Thursday.

According to a release posted on the website of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), the 44 will arrive via Philippine Airlines flight PR 103, five months after MV Palm Beach Princess declared bankruptcy and was kept docked in Miami, Florida.

Reports said the shipowner had fallen behind payment of salaries and had refused to obtain plane tickets for its foreign crew members. In September last year, the company claimed bankruptcy and threatened to divert its crew to Haiti where the ship would be furloughed.

OWWA Administrator Carmelita S. Dimzon said the 44 sought the assistance of the Philippine government after the ship’s crew went on strike in December 2009 over deteriorating working conditions and salary issues.

The shipowner denied the allegations, according to the agency.

“The Philippine government responded to the workers’ request to help in negotiations because they will be left on their own once they get to Haiti. They faced uncertainty in Haiti because the shipowner was already delinquent with payment of salaries and declined to provide plane tickets home," Dimzon said in the online release.

Negotiations in Miami with the shipowner resulted in a commitment that the unpaid salaries will be settled and that the company will also pay OWWA for advancing the fares, Dimzon added.

The 44 repatriated seafarers were part of the original batch of 65 Filipinos affected by the ship’s bankruptcy. The shipowner had issued fares and settled back wages for 21, leaving the 44 stranded in Miami.

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration has already suspended the local manning agency that recruited the crew for reneging on its responsibility and refusing to repatriate the seafarers.

Dimzon also said government negotiated with US immigration authorities to extend the expiry of the seafarers’ visas in time for their departure, and to allow the seafarers to leave from Miami to Manila via Los Angeles.—Jerrie M. Abella/JV, GMANews.TV

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