Correspondence
The Outlaw Ocean Project emailed the contract address for Able Maritime Seafarers.
The email said: "My name is Jake Conley. I am a journalist with The Outlaw Ocean Project, working in collaboration with Gaea Cabico (copied here), a journalist at PhilStar. For the past seven months, we have been developing, researching and reporting a story about Filipino citizens involved in sea-based labor, and your company is mentioned in the story.
As we would like to give you the opportunity to respond to what we are saying, below you’ll find several points and comments we would like to offer you the chance to comment on and confirm or refute. We require your response by 5pm Manila time, Friday, July 14.
Points for comment: — Documents filed with the National Labor Relations Commission (case no. OFW (M) 02-00070-22) show that your manning agency, Able Maritime Seafarers, placed Juan Cernal Jr. with AMBBS Shipping Management, which placed him on a vessel Cernal later died on. His contract had stipulated he would work on the Gita No. 3 as a messman, but, according to documents filed with the NLRC, he ended up unexpectedly working as a fisherman aboard the Pu Yuan 768 doing hard labor. Can you / would you like to comment on this account, and would you like to confirm or refute this account? — Records on the Department of Migrant Workers’ website state that the license for your agency has been cancelled. Can you /would you like to comment on why your agency’s license has been cancelled, and would you like to confirm or refute this fact? — This article from the International Transport Workers’ Federation levies several different allegations about activity by Able Maritime, including that workers have routinely been paid far less than what their contracts stipulated and that the agency has not properly vetted employers before placing laborers. Can you / would you like to comment on this account, and would you like to confirm or refute the allegations? — This article from the International Transport Workers’ Federation states that the ITF has "red listed" Able Maritime Seafarers. Can you / would you like to comment on this? — Did Able Maritime Seafarers vet employers while under a valid license from the POEA/DMW, and if so, what vetting systems were used? — A lawyer in the Philippines alleges that Able Maritime Seafarers and the agencies Buwan Tala Manning, Inc., and Global Marine and Offshore Resources, Inc. are all owned by the same individuals. Can you / would you like to comment on this account, and would you like to confirm or refute it?
Thank you."