Relatives of OFWs in Libya urged to help in repatriation efforts

Thousands of Filipino overseas workers refuse to leave strife-torn Libya despite an urgent call from the Philippine government to get out while they still can, warning that the remaining exit routes are closing fast.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) issued a statement over the weekend saying it aims to get all of the more than 13,000 Filipino workers out of Libya.

“Our target is 100 percent evacuation,” DFA spokesman Charles Jose said.

The DFA issued an order for “mandatory” evacuation of all Filipinos in Libya last month after the beheading of a Filipino construction worker abducted by unknown suspects in the eastern city of Benghazi. That killing was followed by the abduction and gang-rape of a Filipina nurse in Tripoli on Wednesday.

Malacañang yesterday called on relatives of Filipinos in Libya to assist the DFA in reaching out to their loved ones.

Communications Secretary Herminio “Sonny” Coloma Jr. urged Filipinos in Libya to contact the Philippine embassy in Tripoli through the following numbers and email addresses: (00218) 918-244-208 / (00218) 914-370-399 / (00218) 945-348-481; [email protected] / [email protected].

“We also received pleas of help from relatives of Filipinos in Libya, saying they cannot contact their loved ones, perhaps because of the worsening situation. They should immediately coordinate with our embassy,” he said in a radio interview.

Coloma said concerned individuals should contact the DFA through its 24-hour hotlines (632-5527105 and 632-8344685) to register their relatives staying in Libya, as well as their addresses, so they may be reached and evacuated.

Asked how the government will deal with OFWs refusing to leave the country, Coloma said embassy officials may be able to convince them once it becomes apparent that their lives are in danger.

The DFA has raised Alert Level IV, requiring mandatory evacuation and repatriation, last July 20 as armed groups compete to wrest control from Libya’s weak government.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario who arrived in Tunisia to coordinate the evacuations reported that the Tunisia-Libyan border crossing was closed on Friday following the shooting of a Tunisian police officer there during violence that erupted as thousands of stranded Egyptian and foreign nationals tried to break through the passage.

A border crossing to Egypt has also been closed for months, Del Rosario said.

“This narrowed our options. All the major airports in Libya are closed. Our only avenue would be to take the ocean, which necessitates ships,” Del Rosario said by telephone.

The DFA urged Filipinos to leave Libya, convince their friends and fellow workers to accept the government’s repatriation offer and get out now, as the remaining exit routes were closing fast with the escalation of violence and lawlessness.

Del Rosario said that in addition to the 800 Filipinos who had been repatriated, 800 others had been listed as willing to be flown back to Manila.

As for the rest, Del Rosario said: “We are having the same problem that we had in 2011. It’s difficult to convince people to leave.”

He said most of the Filipino migrant workers were reluctant to leave because they feared they would be jobless back home.

But he stressed the urgency of the need to leave Libya now, “as the avenues of repatriation are quickly diminishing.”

Del Rosario said the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli had chartered a ship for the evacuation of the Filipino migrant workers.

The ship, which could carry up to 1,500 people, is set to sail from Malta to pick up Filipinos from the ports of Benghazi, Misrata and possibly Tripoli, Del Rosario said.

He said the owner of a ship engaged by the embassy earlier had backed out.

“Fortunately, we were able to finalize a contract verbally with [another shipowner in] Malta. The chartered ship will leave in a couple of days,” Del Rosario said.

Cebuana staying back
Mia (not her real name), a Cebuana working as a nurse in a hospital in Benghazi – the second largest city in Libya which recently fell into the hands of Al Qaida-linked rebels – is among the Filipino workers opting to stay put. “I will go home together with my brother after my contract expires next year,” she told Cebu Daily News in a chat session via a social networking site.

Mia has been working at Al Hawari hospital  for almost two years together with her sibling while an aunt works as a midwife in another hospital in Benghazi.

She said the situation in the city remains unstable.

“We hear explosions almost everyday. Gunfire erupts every 3-5 minutes,” she said in Bisayan.

“Usahay ang gubat diri dapit sa among lugar, usahay pod layo ra diri sa amoa (At times, we could hear the fighting nearby, but there are also instances when it’s far away),” she added.

Mia said they would only go out of their dormitory to buy food and provisions, but most of the time they just confine themselves indoors.

“Makagawas ra man mi pero kailangan namo i-make sure na wala’y gubot. Pero just to stay safe dili na lang mi sige ug gawas (We’d go out provided we’re sure that the coast is clear, but to stay safe we just stay indoors),” she said.

Mia said they’re aware of the government’s call for them to leave Libya. Some have signed up for repatriation, but others like her would take their chances and hope that the situation would normalize.

Sandy Haya, a former librarian at the defunct Manila Chronicle who is also working as a nurse in Libya, said his contract has already expired last July, but they couldn’t leave because of the fighting.

“We are safe here in Bani Walid which is two hours from Tripoli. Our main problem here is we couldn’t remit money to our families as banks and remittance centers are closed,” he told CDN.

Haya added that their hospital director have been trying to convince the Filipino medical staff to stay back.

Libyan health authorities feared the order for the evacuation of all Filipinos could paralyze hospitals and lead to a “total collapse” of Libya’s healthcare system. There are more than 3,000 health workers from the Philippines, making up 60 percent of Libya’s hospital staff while around 20 percent are from India./Managing Editor Ares P. Gutierrez, Correspondent Michelle Joy L. Padayhag