BBM vowS to bring home 17 hostages

The Philippine government will exhaust all remedies available to bring home safely the 17 Filipino seafarers held hostage by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants in the Red Sea, President Marcos said yesterday, as authorities bared plans to expand the list of high-risk areas in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

-  HELEN FLORES

“We’re doing everything possible to bring them home,” Marcos said in his video message from Manila to the Filipino community at the Dubai World Trade Center Thursday night.

Marcos said he opted to cancel his participation in the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change or COP28 here to personally address “important developments” in the case of the 17 Filipino seafarers.

According to Marcos, a high-level delegation would be dispatched to Tehran, Iran to extend assistance to the Filipino seafarers.

“That’s why we formed a delegation to go to them (Iran) and talk to those who are holding them so that they can go home. So, perhaps you understand, that we put that first because we have to ensure of course the security of our countrymen,” the Chief Executive told Filipinos based in the United Arab Emirates.