DOLE to continue assistance for 7 seafarers repatriated from Libya


Seven Filipino seafarers who were repatriated from Libya will continue to receive assistance from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the agency said on Sunday.
The sustained assistance includes representation with their manning agency Bright Maritime Corporation (BMC), who allegedly failed to pay them their wages and benefits.
“We will coordinate with the manning agency to hasten the payment of their unpaid wages onboard and your other monetary benefits,” DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III said.
DOLE also assured them of financial and livelihood aid.
“The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration is also ready to provide extended assistance for their reintegration through livelihood assistance and skills training,” Bello said.
On Thursday, the repatriated seafarers and their families went to the DOLE office to ask for assistance after BMC failed to remit their benefits, including accrued salary from February 2018 to March 2019.
“We are grateful to the DOLE for providing us necessary assistance to get back on track and we hope that they can help us again in claiming our unpaid benefits from our agency,” said ship captain Arturo Taleño, who is among the repatriated seafarers.
According to Taleño, BMC is still not giving them their hazard pay, insurance pay on their lost belongings, and their post-medical expenses.
In 2017, the said seafarers were detained in Libya for alleged fuel smuggling and later acquitted by the Libyan High Court on February 28 this year. They returned home on March 12. — Joviland Rita/BM, GMA News

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