00:00There were a lot of gatherings when the 17 seafarers arrived,
00:04who had been a part of the Huthi Rebels for more than a year.
00:07This is what Denise Osorio reported.
00:11The 17 Filipino seafarers who arrived in the Philippines last night at 9 PM were emotional.
00:17Some of them were just hugged by their relatives who joined them.
00:21They were the Filipinos who were a part of the Huthi Rebels in the Red Sea in November 2023.
00:27They were on board of the MV Galaxy Leader which was hijacked by the rebels.
00:31Aside from their relatives, government officials like the Department of Migrant Workers,
00:37Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Transportation, Department of Health, and others also joined them.
00:43According to DMW Secretary Hans Leo Kakdak,
00:46the seafarers were asked to return to the Philippines immediately.
00:50It's more about the families reuniting.
00:53And it already happened.
00:55And we're giving them time to be together.
00:58They said, no, we want to go home and see our families.
01:02And so, immediately, we booked them.
01:05According to the Department of Health,
01:07the Filipino seafarers need to go through medical protocols and debriefing.
01:12They are not traumatized.
01:15They came from a traumatic situation.
01:19What we don't want to happen is for them to develop the so-called post-traumatic stress disorder.
01:24DMW is ensuring the assistance and benefits that the seafarers will receive from their agency.
01:31Continuous payment of what we call allotments, right?
01:34The payment of the salaries doubled in this case, right?
01:38All throughout the 428 days.
01:41So that's number one.
01:43Number two, we provided the necessary financial assistance to the families along the way.
01:48We flew everybody in to Manila to meet them personally face-to-face.
01:53Education and scholarship, yes.
01:55That will be among the next round of assistance packages we will provide.
02:02ASEC Kiko de Guzman is here.
02:04It's our reintegration ASEC.
02:05So there are also reintegration livelihood packages in store for them.
02:09The seafarers will stay with their families for the next few days
02:15while they follow the medical protocols.
02:18First, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. is grateful to Oman
02:22for negotiating with him to free the seafarers.
02:27Denisse Osorio for Pambansang TV in Bagong, Philippines.
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