Correspondence
The Outlaw Ocean Project emailed the contract address for Diamond H Marine Services & Shipping Agency.
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: — This story from The Guardian says that in the years leading up to 2015, your agency sent Filipino migrant fishing laborers to a company in Ireland that forced the men to work constantly with little to no rest and at a rate of less than half EU national workers, as well as that the laborers were made to pay your agency a fee to be able to work. Can you /would you like to comment on this account, and would you like to confirm or refute these allegations? — This press release from the Philippine government says that your agency appeared before the government in connection with the trafficking of 35 Filipino men to fishing vessels off the coast of Namibia, where the men were subject to labor conditions that violate Philippine law and international rights conventions — including being made to work for 36 hours straight with only two meals a day and an average of 4 hours of sleep, and having their documents taken from them. Can you / would you like to comment on this account, and would you like to confirm or refute these allegations? — The same press release from the Philippine government says that your agency paid back wages due to the Filipino fishermen who were made to work in Namibia. Can you comment on why backpay was required, and would you like to confirm or refute this account? — Does Diamond H Marine Services & Shipping Agency vet employers before placing workers, and if so, what vetting systems are used?
Thank you."