5 Pinoys freed by Somali pirates back in PHL by Friday –OWWA

After more than four years in captivity by Somalian pirates, the five Filipino crewmembers will finally be home on Friday, days after they were freed.
Relatives of Arnel Pregillana Balbero, Elmer Salvador Balbero, Ferdinand Jacinto Dalit, Akes Tininggal Edwas Jr., and Antonio Auxtero Libres Jr. will be at the airport to meet them, according to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).
The five are scheduled to arrive at 4:30 p.m. via Emirates EK 322 and will be welcomed by the officials and representatives of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and OWWA.
OWWA officer-in-charge Carmelina Velasquez assured full government assistance to the five seafarers.
?"We imagine the nightmare that our 'kababayans' went through all those times, so much so that we wish that they, together with their families, will be able to  adjust and be back to their normal lives," Velasquez said in a statement Thursday.
Among the help that will be extended to the five repatriates are airport assistance and accommodation, as well as transportation fares to allow them to go to their respective hometowns.
Velasquez said the five, who were released over the weekend, will also be recommended to undergo psycho-social counseling as part of their "healing process."
The five Filipinos were among the 29 crewmembers seized by the Somali pirates when their vessel, MV Nahan 3, was seized on March 26, 2012 while passing through the Indian Ocean.
Aside from the Filipinos, other victims of the incident were Cambodian, Chinese, Indonesian,Taiwanese and Viatnamese nationalities. —KBK, GMA News

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