MANILA: Kriz Dela Cruz has pinned all his hopes on getting a seafaring job, believing that a maritime career is the best way to lift his family out of poverty.
To apply for a job at sea, he traveled more than 1,000 km to reach Manila from his southern Philippine hometown of General Santos City, still determined to pursue the line of work despite the deadly risks for seamen following the US-Israel war on Iran.
“Honestly, I’m worried too. But I really want to lift my family out of poverty,” the 26-year-old told Arab News.
The Philippines is the largest source of seafarers in the world, with more than 590,000 at sea in 2025. In the early days of the war, about 6,400 out of more than 20,000 seamen trapped in the Strait of Hormuz were Filipinos.
Though many have either been repatriated or made it out of the waterway in the past few months, about 3,000 Filipinos are among 6,000 sailors still stranded in the Arabian Gulf, the Department of Migrant Workers said.
