DOLE's Baldoz says 1,500 OFWs evacuated from Libya

(Updated 9:27 p.m.) – Nearly 1,500 overseas Filipino workers have been evacuated from Libya as of late Saturday and are now in nearby countries waiting for flights back to the Philippines, according to the Department of Labor and Employment. Most of 1,491 OFWs came from Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, which has been taken over by anti-government forces, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said in an article on the government portal. The OFWs include 14 in Tunisia, 60 in Turkey, 1,154 in Egypt, and two in Madrid. Baldoz said that 1,228 of the OFWs are being booked for flights to Manila from their respective transit countries. The 14 OFWs in Tunisia were working for Korea’s Hanil Engineering & Construction when the social and political unrest erupted in Libya, Baldoz said. They are now part of a group of 50 workers, 36 of whom were scheduled to fly back home on March 2 via Doha, Qatar on board Qatar Airways, according to the Labor Department. Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs said at least 151 Filipinos arrived in three batches at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Sunday after being repatriated by their employers.
DFA secretary to lead repatriation efforts Upon his arrival Saturday morning in the Tunisian capital of Tunis, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario" stated that some 131 Filipinos have crossed the Libyan-Tunisian border at Ras al-Jedir. The DFA team that received them at the border has arranged for their flight home, the department said Sunday. Secretary Del Rosario, Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Esteban Conejos and a small team proceeded to Jerba, the Tunisian city closest to the Libyan border. Del Rosario had originally planned to proceed to Tripoli had it not been for the international community’s de facto ‘no fly advisory’ over Libya, the department said. Earlier on Thursday, the DFA had already sent to Tripoli a six-man team led by DFA Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (DFA-OUMWA) Executive Director Ricardo Endaya. Together with Philippine Embassy personnel, they were sent to assist Filipinos availing themselves of the DFA’s voluntary repatriation program. 24-hr. ‘Libreng Tawag’ for families of OFWs Back in Manila, the DFA-OUMWA kept on attending to families of Filipinos in Libya, briefing them about government measures being undertaken and in place. In cooperation with SMART Communications and its parent Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., a 24-hour ‘Libreng Tawag’ telephone service was activated at the DFA, where families of OFWs may call their relatives in Libya using the following 24-hour landline numbers: 834-4580, 834-3245, 834-3240, and 834-4646. DFA evacuation efforts near Libya Meanwhile, Philippine Embassy in Athens Charge d’Affairés Constancio Vingno reported to the DFA that five Filipinos arrived safely in the Greek island of Crete. Philippine Honorary Consul Alexandros Fasoulakis and the Filipino community in Crete are now helping the five Filipinos. CDA Vingno was en route to the Greek port City of Pereos to receive some 144 Filipinos — working for the Dutch construction company Bam — who were arriving there Sunday. He was likewise making final arrangements with Greek shipping companies for ferries to pick up Filipinos in Benghazi. According to DFA records, more and more Filipinos with exiting Libya, with some 168 Filipinos already in Manila from the strife-torn nation. Fifteen Filipinos, who were flown to Madrid by their employers, were also expected to arrive in Manila Sunday afternoon. The Philippine Embassy in Madrid, in close coordination with the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) in Madrid, welcomed them Saturday afternoon and provided them shelter and food during their short stay there. Apart from the Philippine embassies near Libya, the DFA has mobilized its other embassies and consulates-general to help Filipinos who will be arriving in their respective post from Libya. AFP’s lone C-130 on stand-by Taking a backseat to chartered flights in the Middle East, the Armed Forces of the Philippines' lone C-130 aircraft remains on standby to ferry Filipinos from Libya. AFP chief of staff Gen. Ricardo David Jr. said Sunday that President Benigno Aquino III has standing orders to keep the C-130 available to evacuate Filipinos fleeing Libya. “We were told [by the President] to put it on alert and it is on alert, ang kaisa-isang C-130. Ito handang lumikas ng ating worker sa Libya. Subali't ngayon mas nakakamura yata mag-charter ng eroplano sa Middle East, kaya ito ang ginagawa ngayon ng pamahalaan. Narito pa sa Pilipinas ang C-130 and this is on alert, just in case makakatulong kung ano man ang suliranin," David said in an interview on radio dzBB. (The president told us to place the C-130 on alert and it is on alert. It’s ready to evacuate our worker in Libya. But now it appears chartering a plane in the Middle East would be cheaper, so that is what the government is doing for now. But the C-130 remains on alert, so it can be mobilized immediately if it is needed.) —MRT/PE/KBK/VS, GMA News