Philippines Ambassador attends Jersey memorial for victims of L'Ecume II tragedy

The Philippines Ambassador to the United Kingdom has attended a Jersey memorial service for the Filipino fishermen who died in the L'Ecume II tragedy.

Jervis Baligat and Larry Simyunn died alongside Jersey skipper Michael Michieli after their fishing boat collided with a Condor freight ship on 8 December 2022.

It's the first time the Philippines Ambassador, His Excellency Teodoro Locsin Jr, has visited the Channel Islands.

He will be visiting Guernsey on Tuesday 15 October.

The Ambassador attended the service at St Thomas Church at 5pm on Monday 14 October:

Ambassador Locsin says: "When tragedy happens, I don't think of nationality, I think of the man, the family, it doesn't matter to me if they were English or Filipino. I want to pay my respects.

"It is important that we remember the tragedy and it doesn't happen again and we learn and we put something in place.

"It doesn't matter what nationality you are, you need to be protected."

During his visit, Ambassador Locsin also met with the Filipino diaspora community to explore further employment opportunities for Filipino workers in the Island.

With more than 600 Filipinos living in both Bailiwicks, Jersey's External Relations Minister Deputy Ian Gorst hopes the Ambassador's visit can bolster trade relations with the Philippines.

Deputy Gorst explains: "We know that the Philippines is an important country and its economy is growing in importance.

"We've got a growing number of diaspora here in Jersey, so we always want to check that there's nothing else that the government could be doing to support [Filipinos].

"And it's important for the Ambassador to come and show solidarity with the diaspora here at this continued difficult time."

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