Philippine President Gloria Arroyo yesterday slapped a temporary ban on workers traveling to Nigeria for employment after the weekend kidnapping of six Filipinos.
The Philippines is one of the world's biggest exporters of workers and their remittances home are crucial to the country's economic stability.
But Arroyo's spokesman Ignacio Bunye said in a statement that the order to halt workers traveling to Nigeria was issued for safety reasons.
"The president has ordered a temporary halt to deployments to Nigeria until the security of our nationals is guaranteed," Bunye said.
`Kidnapped victims'
"The president is monitoring the situation and the Department of Foreign Affairs is coordinating with the Nigerian authorities to ensure the safety and secure the release of the kidnapped victims," the statement added.
Unknown assailants took six Filipino oil workers and one local staffer hostage on a cargo ship on Saturday in the Niger Delta, the latest in a string of kidnappings in the epicenter of Nigeria's multi-billion-dollar oil industry.
"The vessel is still being held with six Filipinos in it. We understand they are OK. [State] Governor James Ibori is already intervening on the matter," a spokesman for Delta State government, Ozoene Sheddy, said during the weekend.
`Only six taken'
"There were 14 crew members on board but only six were taken," Sheddy said, adding that the cargo ship was heading for the port of Warri, Delta State's capital.
No group has so far directly claimed responsibility for the latest attack, but a prominent separatist group in the region said on Sunday that members of a local community had seized the Filipinos.
"They were taken by a community in that vicinity. The community plans to explain their reason for their abduction today [yesterday]," a member of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said in an e-mail message.
The latest kidnapping brings to nine the number of foreigners currently being held hostage in the volatile region.
More than 8 million Filipinos -- about a tenth of the population of 86 million -- live and work in over 190 countries and territories.
In the first 11 months of last year they sent home US$11.44 billion,contributing about 10 percent of the Philippines' gross domestic product.
3,900 in Nigeria
Foreign ministry spokesman Ed Malaya said some 3,900 Filipinos were employed in Nigeria at the end of last year.
"It is one of the biggest employers of Filipino workers in Africa," he told AFP.
He said that the the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) would stop issuing authorization for companies to hire Filipino workers to work in Nigeria until further notice.
"Our embassy in Nigeria is working closely with the state and federal authorities to resolve the situation and to seek the safe return of our people," he said.
As of early yesterday, the POEA had not yet issued any advisories or warnings on its Web site about the possible dangers of working in Nigeria.
It listed hundreds of jobs available in the country, ranging from accountants to engineers.
Most of the positions were in the oil industry.
MEND is believed to have been behind the kidnapping, Malaya said.
Attacks
There has been a sharp rise in the number of kidnappings and attacks on oil installations in the Niger Delta since the beginning of last year.
Last year more than 60 foreigners were kidnapped, and dozens of Nigerians were killed by militants and bandits.
Most of the workers kidnapped were employed in the oil industry.
The people of the delta complain that while their region generates 95 percent of Nigeria's foreign earnings, they have little to show for this in terms of development or living standards.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS