17 August 2004 – Secretary of Foreign Affairs Delia Domingo Albert today thanked the Government of Vietnam and the local Vietnamese good Samaritans for rescuing 19 shipwrecked Filipino fishermen as she assures that the Department will continue to exert every effort to assist overseas Filipino nationals in distress.

“I was informed by our Ambassador to Vietnam Ambassador Vic M. Lecaros that the 19 Filipino fishermen rescued by a Vietnamese vessel and brought to their country are expected to come home to the Philippines on 18 August after the processing of their papers,” Secretary Albert said. “I like to take this opportunity therefore to express our great appreciation for the invaluable help of the owners and crew of the Vietnamese vessel, as well as the Vietnamese people and government who were all involved in saving the lives of our fishermen.  We shall forever remember their humanitarian act done pursuant to international maritime law,” the Secretary added.

What was a maiden voyage of the FB Lucky Three nearly cost 19 Filipinos their lives.  Starting out from San Piro, Balayan, Batangas, on 07 August with a crew of 21 men, the ship, under the command of Capt. Dennis delos Reyes, set sail for the rich fishing grounds off the coast of Palawan.  In the early evening of 08 August, they encountered strong winds that caused the boat to capsize.  Over the next two days two members of the crew were lost due to cold and hunger.  The 19 surviving crewmen clung to the capsized vessel to keep their heads above the water.  They subsisted on rainwater, which they caught with a banyera (a vat-like container usually used for fish).

Help arrived on 11 August when a Vietnamese cargo ship, the MV Ha Nam, which was then making her way back to Vietnam with a load of fertilizer from Isabel, Leyte, chanced upon them and brought them on board.  The rescuers then notified the Maritime Research and Coordination Center and other Vietnamese authorities, after which the Hanoi PE received a call on 12 August from the Consular Department of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the rescue.

The Embassy, acting on standing instructions of Foreign Secretary Delia Domingo-Albert to provide immediate assistance to distressed Filipinos, dispatched right away Vice Consul Marford Angeles and an interpreter-assistant to the port of Quy Nhon, Bin Dinh Province in South Central Vietnam, where the MV Ha Nam docked at 10:30 PM of 14 August.

Here the Filipinos were transferred to the custody of the Frontier Guards (Vietnamese immigration) and the local authorities, upon which the consular team from Hanoi PE began the fairly elaborate paperwork necessary for their eventual repatriation.  Five of the men, including the captain who had elevated blood pressure, were brought to the Bin Dinh provincial hospital for treatment of minor medical.

Luckily, a Vietnamese national named Mr. Le Duc, who has spent the last 15 years in the Philippines and who is fluent in Filipino, happened to be vacationing in Quy Nhon City and was tapped by the local physician to communicate with his Filipino patients.  Mr. Le and his wife, who say they were themselves rescued by Filipinos off Palawan some 15 years ago, showed great sympathy.  They gave assistance to the local authorities and even to the Philippine consular team as they advanced the money to buy provisions and clothes for the fishermen.

From Quy Nhon, the Embassy team will shepherd the men to Ho Chi Minh City for final document processing prior to repatriation.  They are expected to arrive there on Tuesday, 17 August and, barring any hitches in their obtaining exit visas, the 19 fishermen can fly home as early as Wednesday, 18 August.  The Philippine government through the Assistance to Nationals Fund will shoulder the cost of flying the fishermen home and other related expenditures.

“I commend the prompt action of Hanoi PE in this instance and the other Philippine embassies involved lately in the rescue and repatriation of Filipino fishermen,” the Secretary said, referring to the repatriation of 15 marooned fishermen from Chuuk Island in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) on 14 August and another 13 fishermen also rescued off the waters of FSM last July.  END.