President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Sunday called for an end to the attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis on commercial shipping as he advocated respect for the freedom of navigation.
Marcos made the call on the day the United States used its military assets in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to shoot down over a dozen drones sent by the Houthis to attack ships in the troubled region.
He made the remarks in X (formerly Twitter) days after Houthi rebels launched a missile attack on Wednesday, killing two Filipino seafarers onboard the Greek-owned, Barbados-flagged commercial vessel True Confidence.
The Houthis have been attacking ships in two of the world’s busiest shipping lanes leading to the Suez Canal since November as a show of support for Hamas in their fight against Israel in Gaza.
“The Philippines joins global calls for the end to this conflict and full respect for the principle of freedom of navigation,” Marcos said. “We remain firmly committed to the safety and welfare of our seafarers and overseas Filipino workers in the region.”
He expressed his condolences to the families of two Filipino seafarers killed in the Houthi attack and assured them of the repatriation of the remains of their loved ones.
“We are in constant contact with their families, and we will spare no effort in bringing their remains home,” he said.
He reported that the 13 surviving Filipino seafarers, including the three who were injured during the attack, are now safely in Djibouti and are being assisted by the Philippine Embassy in Cairo.
The migrant workers, social welfare, foreign affairs, and health departments are all working to assist the seafarers, he said.
Eleven of the 13 will return to the Philippines on Tuesday, the Department of Migrant Workers said.
“Ten are unharmed, and one is injured. There are still two left in the hospital with major injuries, and the bodies of the two who died have yet to be retrieved,” DMW officer-in-charge Hans Leo Cacdac said in a radio interview.
“The missile hit the ship’s fuel tank. The heat signature is still high, so the salvaging team hired by the shipowner has not yet entered salvage operations. It is really part of the salvors’ objective to retrieve the bodies of our beloved crew members who died,” Cacdac added.