From the time I stepped into the room of my high school years, I started to dream big just like any other students who are full of promises to themselves and their family. But for me then, life was just too hard to grasp and that every time school vacation approaches, I immediately look for summer jobs. Most of the time, I ended up as a laborer in construction company. My young body developed into a hardened and stout physique because of hard labor that I was in. I have no regrets working as a construction worker because I know I am a big help to my poor family. My being a son of a poor family helped me understand the true meaning of life.
Right after I finished my education, I never stop working until such time that I am already threading all kinds of jobs available. But it seems that all the hard work that I have is not enough to ease my family’s predicament. Subsequently, I found myself applying for abroad. First, I passed all the tests required for my application but paying a huge sum of money borrowed from a neighbor with a 10% interest. There was full of excitement when I set foot in Chiang Kai Sheik International Airport. “At last I am now in Taiwan” thus I uttered with glee.
My job wasn’t easy but it’s worth of a task because I am earning more than what I used to get in my country. And after two years of hard work in Taiwan, I am finally backed home with a few dollars neatly stuffed in my pocket. In all of the salary I earned in Taiwan was remitted to my family in a regular basis. Fate was really not on my side because having worked abroad did not helped turn my family’s fortune. Knowing that I have siblings to support, I tried for another chance to go abroad and what I got was the worst experience ever happened to my life. And the next thing I know was that, I was already preparing to board a vessel somewhere in the central part of the Philippines.
It was 1st of April 2001 in late Sunday afternoon when we left Manila for Subic – the former US Military Base and now a Freeport bustling with businesses and other activities that makes the place livelier during the night. And after a few hours of travel, the car came to a halt in front of a cozy restaurant where a group of men are waiting in one of the table. We were told by a man (business agent) who accompanied us from Manila to go inside the restaurant because a short briefing will be conducted by the men who are expecting our presence. One of the men introduced himself as Captain Marcus Juni, an Indonesian national and the skipper of a tanker vessel anchored at the Freeport. And after the briefing where we presented our papers and important documents, the group of Captain Juni hurriedly left the restaurant.
The agent, who did not even identify his name, escorted me and a fellow recruit inside the Freeport premises and ordered to present our passport and seaman’s book to an immigration officer. Like in Manila where we paid P40,000 each to a recruiter – the immediate boss of the agent – again we were asked to shell-out P10,000 each by the immigration officer for him to approved our documents and be allowed to sign-on via Subic Freeport. And after passing the immigration, we were herded to the wharf where the vessel was then busy loading crude oil to which I suspect is an illegal act of behind the scene transaction.
At exactly 9 pm of that night, we were aboard ship and immediately joined the other crews and busied ourselves in loading the crude oil by checking valves and other stuff. Finally we left Subic the morning after and sailed to Vietnam, with suspicion in mind. After six days of rough sailing, my suspicion became clear when we reached Vietnam. Instead of going directly to the port or harbor, our vessel was met by another tanker vessel and a barge about a few kilometers away from the port. In an instance, the crews was ordered to prepare all the equipment to be used in transferring the crude oil to the other ship and barge. I came to know later that we are smugglers, under the Chinese mafia operating in Hong Kong and Taiwan in connivance with some corrupt government officials in the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China.
And to my disbelief, a group of Filipinos who looks pitiful are manning the barge in Vietnam. They were deprived of any provisions and other needs that they asked us for helped. But unfortunately, help is out of the question at that very moment because we are working under duress – all of us indeed. We bid goodbye and wish for the luck of everybody and started we sail for Hong Kong. It was a nightmarish seeing my own countrymen suffer in a perilous place.
Wednesday, 11th of April when we arrived in Hong Kong, again anchored at sea overlooking the vast metropolis of Hong Kong. A usual chore of cleaning the entire ship is what the crew had done. After five days of standby, the owner of the ship Mr. Lee Kam Shun visited his crews and announced that there will be a new Boss from Taiwan that will take ownership of the said vessel. Friday the 20th, the formal turnover of the ship to a Taiwanese Boss finally happened. The crews were divided and I was retained by the Taiwanese to be one of his crews to man his vessel. Likewise, a new Captain of Burmese stock was called in. The Captain speaks three languages; mandarin Chinese, English and Bahasa Indonesia. After the changing of ownership and crews, our ship left Hong Kong and sailed to Taiwan. We arrived in Kaoshiung, Taiwan at exactly 4 in the morning the 23rd of April. Thursday 26th, the Big Boss ordered the Captain to get alongside a tanker vessel anchored amid the Kaoshiung Bay to load crude oil. After transferring the oil to our tanker ship, another routine of oil smuggling commenced. Our ship sailed on the 28th Saturday and arrived at the meeting area along the China and Taiwan border. 1:20 in the wee hours when we unloaded crude oil to another ship with urgency and fear enveloping the air. Then at exactly 3:15 am, as the darkness and the noise of the ships engine tries to deflect attention from the impending danger, the Chinese Maritime Police came abruptly and surprised all crews and warned both ship to stay still but the two vessel disengaged in a hurry and ran in opposite direction. Thousands of bullets were fired in our direction as our ship tried to maneuver as fast as it could. My heart was pounding heavily as I sat down in my cabin. The burst of gunfire was without let-up and it looks like we’re in a war zone. As I tried to peek in the window, I saw the sky lighted up like there was a pyrotechnics going on. Unfortunately for us, the Chinese Maritime Police Cutter was just too fast to evade. Fearful of what might happen to us, the Indonesian bosun shouted “go to the bridge and tell the captain to stop!” immediately the Filipino cook hit the stairs up the bridge and the captain momentarily obliged.
Immediately after, the CMP boarded our vessel with guns ready and ordered all crews to go to the deck Hands at the back of the head, all crew asked to kneel before the police officers. I was horrified that I meekly followed the Chinese. They confiscated all documents and communication equipment that we have in our possession. They told us that we entered their territorial waters when in fact we are still in the Taiwan Strait. Our ship was escorted to the mainland china and arrived in Tung Shan, Chang Chou Province at exactly 1:45 pm in the afternoon. We were investigated and even charged us in spying for Taiwan. 16 days after staying in Tung Shan, our ship was escorted to Xiamen , one of the industrialized Province of China. May 12 when we reached the Xiamen port where a huge container port is located and a ship building facility that makes the Province busy with activities.
After weeks of detention and investigation by the Chinese authorities, the once stern looking police officers started to mellow in their attitude and we started to mingle with them as we maintain our daily chores in our vessel. But that’s not the end of it because the police and custom officials emptied the crude oil that our ship carries. The officials made a lot of money out of our cargo. The remaining liters of oil that was pumped out and sold to a Chinese businessman was distributed to the crews as shares. And in July 7, 2001 Saturday morning, upon the orders from the higher authorities, the Chinese maritime police had finally released us from captivity with all the documents and stuff returned to the crews. 9:15am when we lifted anchor and engine brought to life again and was escorted by CMP out of Xiamen Bay, free at last. It was a traumatic experience that I said to myself “why on earth that people are not treated equal in the face of everything that God had given to mankind..”
Yes, it was poverty, unemployment and the inequalities of life in my country that brought me and the people who are still threading their luck aboard the pirate’s ship. They are everywhere in Asia and being manned by different nationalities but operated and managed by a handful of Mafia bigwigs from Hong Kong, Taiwan and China. This kind of operation will bring more modern pirates under the command of old Asian Mafia.