Malacanang assured on Monday that the government would explore all possible means to find the missing Filipino crew members of a Panamanian-flagged cattle ship that sank off Japan early this month.

"We will do whatever we can to find our fellowmen, I can assure the families of that. So, we will explore how to further the process of tracing where their loved ones are," said Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque in a televised press briefing.

Relatives of the missing seafarers have appealed to the government to seek the help of other countries like China, Korea and Japan to continue with the search.

They are also hoping that the government use its own resources to look for the over 30 Filipino crew of the Gulf Livestock 1, which sank off Japan at the height of a typhoon.

Of the 39 Filipino crew members, two have been rescued while one died. Celerina Monte/DMS