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.

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.

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.

Ambassador Tiglao accompanied the visiting lawmakers to the Filipino Workers Resource Center (FWRC) in Ambelokipi. The lawmakers inspected the facilities at the FWRC and discussed the working conditions of the overseas Filipino workers in Greece, both land-based and sea-based, with the Ambassador and Labor Attaché George Eduvala.