WikiLeaks: Envoy gave US Pinoy views on hijacking

MANILA, Philippines—Online whistle-blower WikiLeaks has released the fifth of 1,796 cables that supposedly emanated from the US Embassy in Manila.

In the secret memo, dated Nov. 7, 2007, then US Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney reported to the Department of State in Washington, DC on the “Philippine views on the MV Golden Mori piracy.”

The chemical tanker Golden Nori (not “Mori”) and its 23-man crew, including nine Filipinos, were seized in October 2007 by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. US naval destroyers responded to the ship’s distress call.

Kenney disclosed that the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs was “unable to provide additional information regarding the identity of the Filipinos among the (ship’s) crew.”

The envoy named the “points of contact for the case” as Special Assistant Lorenzo Junco and Executive Director Cresente Relacion, both of the DFA Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs.

“When Mr. Relacion was asked about Philippine legal procedures and precedents that might enable the Philippines to accept custody of, and prosecute persons apprehended in connection with the piracy of the Golden Nori, Mr. Relacion responded that since the tanker was not Philippine-flagged and the incident did not occur in Philippine territorial waters, there was no basis or precedent under Philippine laws for prosecution of the pirates. He went on to ask that the embassy keep the Philippine government apprised of developments in the case,” Kenney said.

In an Oct. 31, 2007, press release, the DFA reported that the 23 crew members of the Golden Nori were being “treated well” by their captors.

The US embassy said it does not comment on supposedly leaked documents from the mission.

Embassy spokesperson Rebecca Thompson earlier said that “any unauthorized disclosure of classified information by WikiLeaks has harmful implications for the lives of identified individuals that are jeopardized, and also for global engagement among and between nations.”