Forty-five Filipino fishermen are to be repatriated to the Philippines from Indonesia this January, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Monday night.
In a statement, the DFA said this was taken up during a meeting between Philippine Consul General Jose Burgos and North Sulawesi Governor Dr. Sinyo Harry Sarundajang last Jan. 4.
“Arrangements are on-going for R.D. Fishing Co., a Philippine company, to accommodate the fishermen in their returning vessel to General Santos City,” the DFA said.
The DFA said Sarundajang, a former mayor of Bitung City, North Sulawesi’s main seaport, expressed concern on the problems of Filipino fishermen caught for illegal fishing in Indonesia’s territorial waters, mostly in the Sulawesi Sea.
He has facilitated the repatriation of hundreds of Filipino fishermen when he was the city’s mayor, the DFA added.
During their cordial meeting, Burgos and Sarundajang tackled matters such as political, economic,trade and cultural cooperation between Manado and the cities of Davao, General Santos and other areas in Southern Mindanao.
The Philippine consulate’s jurisdiction covers 11 provinces of East Indonesia, including North and South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, West Sulawesi, Gorontalo, Maluku, North Maluku, Papua/Irian Jaya, West Papua and East Kalimantan. — RSJ, GMA News
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