Singapore, April 28 -- The Philippines is telling crewing agencies to stop sending its nationals to the Persian Gulf, making it more difficult for shipowners to rotate the thousands of seamen stuck on vessels behind the Strait of Hormuz. The nation has issued advisories via the Department of Migrant Workers to agencies, sources said. Manila's move follows a directive by major international labor groups to designate the areas around the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman as a warlike operations area. That gives crew more rights, including more pay, the power to refuse transit through the strait, and higher compensation for death and disability. The designation also implies that the country's seafarers must be replaced by non-Filipinos. With 590,000 seafarers globally, the Philippines is the world's biggest source of mariners. bloomberg...