Crew Hijack At Manila Airport Took Place Say Witnesses
The toing and froing of the money saga surrounding the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) and the German-owned shipping line Vega-Reederei GmbH & Co. KG has now taken a new twist. The ITF alleged in a press release (reproduced in full below) that the all-Filipino crew of the Gibraltar-flagged container vessel MV Philipp had been cheated out of the outstanding wages paid to them (twice) by Vega following representations by the ITF and the Gibraltar flag authority.
Two witnesses employed by Vega have now come forward to confirm the ITF's allegations that crew members who arrived back in PHL had their money taken from them by staffers in Vega's Manila office. They were effectively hijacked and put into vans at NAIA's arrival terminal.
Question: what connects a German ship, a popular musical and a spaghetti western? Answer at the bottom, for clues, read the following report
The ITF stated that half the crew had returned to Manila for normal rotation after the back wages had been paid to all the crew in Liverpool, and that six of the seven crew members had been ambushed leaving NAIA terminal by staff from the Manila office, Vega Manning Agency. According to the ITF, this had resulted in the crew members being taken to Vega's office and forced to give back the money.
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Witnesses state that six of the crew members of the MV Philipp were intercepted at Manila's NAIA waiting area
Crew members were taken to the Mandaluyong HQ of Vega Manila and forced to repay the wages they had been paid in cash in Liverpool
Capt Fedelicio, head of Vega Manila photographed here on 4th October on board the MV Philipp when the crew were paid the $230,000 - it was later "voluntarily" returned by the crew only to be handed over again; in the background is Capt Meyn from Vega Hamburg. He later returned with a female colleague to hand over the money a second time after Vega were confronted with the scandal by Gibraltar Register's administration
After the original revelations of the double book keeping scandal, this was devastating news and if it were proved true, would have lowered the international standing of what was perceived to be a "blue chip" German line with a respected history. It could also lead to possible sanctions by shipping and dock unions around the world as well as possible legal action.
A Tableful Of Dollars: The $230,000 being counted out originally
Vega's owners in Hamburg had alreday admitted to both the ITF and more crucially Gibraltar's Flag administrator's (where their vessels are registered) that the pay to the crew was wrong and the difference would be put right, which was to the tune of $230,000USD. This was paid in cash to the crew in Liverpool originally on the 4th October. The scandal then accelerated because after the crew had been paid, they were forced to repay the money to the agent from Manila and representative from Hamburg. All this within hours of the money being paid. Vega's representatives had waited till the ITF and the port officials had left the vessel.
A Google street view of Große Elbstraße, the Hamburg waterfront street that is the HQ of Vega-Reederei
More complaints to the Gibraltar admin by the ITF resulted in the money being paid (again) to the crew when the vessel returned to Liverpool, witnessed by the ITF and port state control. That should have been the end of the matter; the owners and agents having had their fingers rapped and the crew rightfully getting their back pay.
ITF Inspector Tommy Molloy who had been instrumental in getting the crew members their back wages, escorted the seven crew who were being rotated to a hotel directly from the vessel Tuesday evening. This was because after leaving the vessel in Liverpool, they were to catch an early morning flight out of the UK on the Wednesday bound for Manila. This flight was arranged by Vega.
Molloy also arranged for the crew to complete British customs declarations, this in relation to the fact that they were taking more than 10,000 Euros out of the UK in cash. This is where the story should have ended, the crew returning home with the money.
The following Friday, reports came in that six of the crew had been met at Manila airport, driven to Vega's office and forced to hand back their wages yet again to Vega Crewing manager Vicente Fedelicio. On the Monday, the rumors appeared to become facts.
Balita Pinoy then spoke to Capt Fedelicio who refused to confirm or deny the reports, only answering "No Comment" three times and putting down the phone. We then contacted Vega in Hamburg and a spokeswoman stated that the crew had not been forced to repay the money, and that it was ".... normal for the crew to be met at the airport...". She added that Mollloy and the ITF were just causing trouble.
Georg Ludwig Ritter von Trapp, one of the founders of Vega-Reederei
Balita Pinoy then instituted its own investigation in Manila and came up with two witnesses who confirmed the story. Basically, the reports from the ITF are confirmed. Six of the crew members, along with family members who had waited for them at NAIA to arrive from Manchester, were taken in the two vans from NAIA to Vega's Manila office.
They were then told specifically that the money that had been paid to them in cash in Liverpool was wrong, and that it was illegal for them to keep it. This was, according to Vega staffers, because the crew members had signed contracts in Manila under POEA rules, and that the money that Vega had been forced to pay was under another TCC contract that had been signed in Sweden, and was null and void.
They were then told that if they did not repay the money there and then, Vega would file suit in the Philippines against each crew member for theft. Vega staffers from personnel and accounting were at this meeting, and Capt Fedelicio was in attendance.
Faced with this threat of legal proceedings, the six crew members paid over the money.
The seventh crew member had not been intercepted at NAIA, and still has his outstanding wages. Insiders at Vega Manning in Manila have indicated they are trying to get this member blacklisted at the POEA.
Following the results of the Manila investigation, Balita Pinoy then contacted Vega in Hamburg again. The same spokeswoman listened to our findings, neither confirming nor denying them, but asked for the names of our two witnesses. We informed her that their identities would be protected by us, this as they are fearful of reprisals in PHL. She then phoned us to say that the Managing Director of Vega Hamburg Arend Bruegge would respond via email. An email was then received by us asking us to reveal "...complete and full information...", and stating that "The details mentioned by you on the phone are in no way correct or true as per our information."
The email added that Vega Hamburg would not be commenting further. Basically, they appear to want Balita Pinoy to reveal our sources. This will obviously not happen as we always protect sources.
What is certainly known is that Vega have played fast and loose with its treatment of the crew of the Philipp. Having paid the money in cash originally, they waited till the ITF and port authorities in Liverpool left the vessel to "encourage" the crew to "voluntarily" repay the money to help the ship.
When they were caught out on this, they sent two representatives from Hamburg to repay the money yet again in Liverpool. These same representatives, having told the ITF they were flying straight back to Hamburg, stayed in the UK, and when the crew members being rotated were in their hotel waiting to fly back to NAIA, phoned one of the crew members to see if the ITF's Tommy Molloy was still around. They were then confronted with this by Molloy and they responded by saying they wanted to invite the crew members to dinner.
Vega's Hamburg spokeswoman told Balita Pinoy that it is normal for Vega Manila to meet all its crew members at NAIA. Any OFW will know that returning OFW's in Luzon are normally met by their families, those in Vis/Min or one of the other islands will go straight to Manila's domestic airport or a ferry terminal.
Vega's Arend Bruegge told Balita Pinoy several weeks ago that the crew agreement signed in Sweden was a mistake made by an office girl. This is not true, it was becuase the vessel (the Philipp) would not have been touched by dockers in Swedish waters unless an appropriate crew agreement, not the one in place signed in Manila.
If the two witnesses in Manila are telling the truth, a company that promotes itself as totally respectable, with an honorable bloodline, will have been guilty of the worst kind of industrial relations practices reminiscent of Victorian times.
ITF Statement issued 25 October 2011
The ITF has alleged that the crew of the Gibraltar-flagged container vessel Philipp (previously known as the Beluga Meditation) have now been robbed of the owed wages recovered for them following intervention by the ITF and the Gibraltar flag authority.
ITF inspector Tommy Molloy first exposed deliberate double book keeping on the vessel earlier this month (see www.itfglobal.org/press-area/index.cfm/pressdetail/6510/region/1/section/0/order/1). At the time, confronted with evidence of the USD230,000 underpayment, both Vega Friedrich Dauber GMBH & Co KG and its subsidiary, Vega Manila Crewmanagement Inc, agreed to make payment in Liverpool on 4th October. However, a representative of Vega Crewing arrived and took back the money, meaning that further action had to be taken. The crew finally got their money two weeks later. Now, however, eyewitnesses to their arrival in Manila reports that they were effectively ambushed as they were leaving the airport. They were bundled into two vans, taken to crewing agent Vega Crewing's office and the money taken from them under duress. Only one crew member, who had left the airport by a different exit, escaped.
"Someone told me yesterday that he had been in this business for more than 30 years and thought he had seen it all. He was surprised to discover that he still had the capacity to be shocked and appalled at the treatment meted out to some seafarers," commented ITF Inspector Tommy Molloy, following reports that seven of the crew appear to have been met by thugs at Manila airport, driven to the office and forced to hand back their wages yet again to Vega Crewing manager Vicente Fedelicio.
He continued: "This has been going on for a month now. We first discovered the double book keeping in September. When the owners, Vega Friedrich Dauber GMBH & Co KG, were faced with the evidence they agreed to repay the wages on 4th October in the Port of Liverpool."
"Within hours of the payout I returned to the vessel with port police officers and my suspicions that the money was to be taken off the crew were borne out. The crew had been sufficiently threatened by Vicente Fedelicio of Vega Crewing in the Philippines - who had travelled from Manila to Liverpool to be on board for the payment along with the German owner's representatives - to hand back the money, telling the police they had done so voluntarily because they did not want their wages."
This was reported to the Gibraltar Maritime Administration and following its intervention the company was forced to make a repayment of the owed wages to the crew in Liverpool on 18th October. Payment was overseen by the ITF and witnessed by UK Port State Control (MCA) on behalf of the Gibraltar Register.
"The company has never denied the fraud," said Molloy. "They've actually paid back the stolen wages twice now, simply on the basis of the evidence we have against them. Whether Vega Crewing has acted alone or under instructions by taking the money back yet again in Manila I don't know. If it's the former then we would expect Vega Reederei to the take the appropriate action. If they don't, then we will be looking for the Gibraltar Maritime Administration and others to take the necessary action against the German owner."
The answer to the question
Georg Ludwig Ritter von Trapp and his wife Maria were the inspiration for the highly successful Hollywood musical "The Sound Of Music", von Trapp was one of the founders of Vega-Reederei in 1919. The film was released in 1964, the same year another highly successful spaghetti western "A Fistful Of Dollars", part of the Man With No Name trilogy was released. Vega-Reederei own and operate the MV Philipp. It is a fistful of dollars that brings the three together.
The original story on the Philipp
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