PHILIPPINE EMBASSY, BUENOS AIRES, CONDUCTS CONSULAR OUTREACH IN ARGENTINE INTERIOR

29 November 2006 — A Consular Team from the Philippine Embassy in Buenos Aires conducted on 22 November 2006 an outreach service into the Argentinean interior when it went to and met Filipino seafarers in Rio Parana in the province of Sta. Fe. The team that inquired into the seafarers’ needs and conditions of work was led by Attaché Maria Teresa Benitez and was assisted by Eduardo Cordoba, an Argentine national.

The Parana is one of the deepest rivers in South America and the major loading point for Argentine grain.  Thousands of Filipino crew dock in the Parana port in the course of their work.  Parana is some 400 kilometers from Buenos Aires.

Fr. Jose Cervantes of the Scalabrini fathers accompanied the consular team on one ship and blessed an emotional all-Filipino crew.

According to Fr. Cervantes and the Argentine Coast Guard, Filipinos are found on virtually every ship in the Parana and comprise nearly 90% of foreign seamen passing through Argentina. The crewmen regularly need government assistance and, at times, spiritual counsel. 

On behalf of Charge d’affaires Raul H. Dado, the Embassy team also met with officials of the Argentine Coast Guard, which also has jurisdiction over peace and order and safety matters in the aquatic interior, and the International Transport Federation, which looks after conditions of work in the Argentine river ports.

In September 2006, Filipino seafarer Reynaldo Francisco died when he fell from a high plank while his ship was berthed on the Parana in the port of Rosario, also in Sta. Fe province.  The Coast Guard recovered his body. Two other seafarers survived similar accidents aboard ship, and after recovery, were repatriated to the Philippines, in cooperation with Argentine ship agents.  END

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