(Eagle News)–The seven Filipino seafarers who were sentenced to prison for fuel smuggling in Libya but were later acquitted by the country’s high court are now in the Philippines.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said the seven, who were crewmen of M/T Levante, arrived in Manila on board a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul.
They were accompanied by Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers Affairs Abdullah Mama-o and Philippine Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Mardomel Melicor, and were welcomed home by their wives and children and Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III and Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Sarah Lou Arriola.
According to the DFA, the seven had been detained in Libya since August 2017.
“The DFA, through the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli, worked closely with Libyan authorities to secure their release and kept the families of the seafarers in the Philippines constantly updated,” the DFA said.
The DFA said it also shouldered the cost of the repatriation of the seven from Tripoli.
Each of the seven was also given P100,000 in financial assistance that was sourced from the P1-billion Assistance to Nationals Fund approved by President Rodrigo Duterte.