Hijacking of ships by Somali pirates had worsened in the last months of last year, and the Philippine Embassy and the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Athens in all cases involving Filipino seamen are in close contact with the ship owners, managers, and manning agencies involved as well as with Greek authorities in order to ensure the safety of Filipino seamen in such ships. There are 53 Filipino seamen still held by pirates on three Greek-owned ships, and 22 other Filipino sailors in three other ships hijacked by Somali gangs.

Eden Mae M. Castillo, college freshman, is the first awardee of the Philippine Ambassador’s scholarship under an agreement signed only two months ago by University of Indianapolis (Athens campus) Chancellor Vasilis Botopoulos and Ambassador Rigoberto Tiglao.
The Philippine Ambassador’s Scholarship provides for a 70% tuition assistance to a Filipino for an undergraduate college degree at the prestigious University of Indianapolis-Athens Campus.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) held a soft opening of its new state-of-the-art consular services building, located at the corner of Bradco and Macapagal Avenues in Aseana Business Park, Paranaque City, a few minutes away from the Mall of Asia. “Instead of sweltering heat, our consular clients will be greeted with cool air at the moment they enter our doors. Instead of monobloc chairs, they will wait their turn sitting on ergonomically-designed stainless steel benches. Instead of long queues, they can shorten their wait by accessing our online appointment system,” Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alberto G. Romulo said in his speech at the opening.

Philippine Ambassador’s scholarship program is now in place in the prestigious Athens Campus of the University of Indianapolis (UINDY-Athens).

Ambassador Rigoberto D. Tiglao entered recently into a Memorandum of Understanding providing for scholarships and tuition assistance for Filipinos at the university with Chancellor Vasilis Botopoulos of UINDY Athens

The troubled Aetea Sierra will be auctioned 17 February 2010 in order to pay the wages of Filipino sailors ordered by the court in its order of 21 December 2009 unless the ship owner, Aetea Sierra Maritime Company, Ltd, can raise the money to settle its debts to the seamen.

The 12 Filipino sailors altogether will be paid a minimum of US$189,000 to a maximum of US$466,600, according to their lawyers. In its order of 21 December, the Court of First Instance of Piraeus directed the immediate payment of 132,963.32 euros (about $190,000) to the 12 seamen, representing their unpaid salaries up to 9 November 2009.

Listing of Philippine and Greek holidays when the Embassy is closed. Consular services are also not undertaken every Wednesday in order for our staff to properly process consular documents.

The remains of six Fililpino sailors killed in a fire in a Greek-owned ship 25 December 2009 arrived in Manila at 6:45 p.m. 2 January 2010 via a chartered Boeing DC 8 flight which flew from Venezuela to Athens, and after unloading the remains of the three Greek sailors killed, went on to Manila, after however an eight-hour delay in Dubai because of unfavorable weather.The respective families of the Filipino seafarers patiently waited for many hours at the airport to receive the remains.

Photos of Ambassador Rigoberto Tiglao at the Greek government’s New Year’s reception 21 January 2010 at the Presidential Palace.

The transport of the remains of the six Filipino crewmembers of the ill-fated Aegean Wind to Athens enroute to Manila is currently being arranged, Ambassador Rigoberto Tiglao reported.

The ordeal of 12 Filipino officers and seamen, as well as of the Ukranian and Montenegrin crew, manning the problematic Cayman Islands-registered Aetea Sierra will soon end with lawyers of the International Transport Federation (ITF) and the Philippine Embassy succeeding in convincing a Piraeus court to immediately settle the unpaid salaries of the ship’s crew and to undertake arrangements for the crew to leave the ship and return home.
Philippine Ambassador to Athens Rigoberto Tiglao had formally and strongly urged Greek authorities to allow the Filipino crewmen to immediately return home, with only a skeletal crew to remain on the ship.