Its very sad that our seafarers are the object and the ones primarily affected by the hijacking of  ships along the Gulf of Aden. Since Filifino seafarers makes up one-third of the whole world's shipping manpower, they are the most prone to pirates' attacks. As an OFW myself, i can relate to these people's ordeal. They accepted jobs that are very risky, although well paid, because their own country cannot provide them jobs that will be enough to support their families. I said risky since our government was powerless in this kind of situation. Our own Navy are very ill-equipped that it cannot afford even to match up with the pirates. With just one frigate, several corvettes and mostly patrol crafts, considering  also the distance of our country from the area, its not new to us that our government can't do much. They are just depending from other powers ( U.S., China, France, Germany, etc) in protecting its own citizens. Last year, a total of 208 Filipinos on board 17 vessels were abducted by Somali pirates. The sad thing here is most of the seamen were released without any help from the government as usual.

The case of the the Philippine tanker MT Stolt Strength which until now remained stranded some 60 miles (100 kilometers) east of the Somali coast , after it was freed by pirates, is one example of a direct attack on philippines soil since the ship is a philippine flag vessel. But what can our government do is just coordinate and seek help from friendly countries to assist our seamen in time of distress.

After the much publized plight and rescue of American ship captain Richard Philips caught international attention, the government have finally decided to form a special task force to assist Filipino seafarers being held captive by pirates in Somali. That is almost after a year of continous attack on ships with Filifino seamen on board. A usual slow reaction of the government to the crisis. Its very hard to imagine that this OFW are not given the proper help by the government in spite of the fact that they are the ones that keep our economy afloat in face of the world wide recession.  Most of the  government actions are  politically motivated and some "papogi"or mere showing off since this isuue has caught international attention.

Kawawa talaga tayong mga OFW. Di tau aasikasuhin kung hindi controversial ang issue.