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Pinoy Abroad

DOLE: 4,097 OFWs in Libya wait for evacuation


(Updated 5:34 p.m.) Some 440 overseas Filipino workers have safely made it home from strife-torn Libya, with 4,097 still awaiting evacuation from there, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said Tuesday. The DOLE said the 440 does not include some 180 whose chartered flight to Manila was delayed; the 161 more Filipinos expected to arrive later Tuesday; and 36 on Wednesday. “Also as of [Tuesday], reports collated by the DOLE Middle East Crisis Monitoring Center place the number of Filipinos already out of Libya at 3,544. Arrangement for their onward transportation to the Philippines is in various stages," the DOLE said in a news release posted on its website Tuesday afternoon. It uploaded on its website an initial list of 104 OFWs repatriated from Libya. DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said some 1,546 Filipinos in Libya are expected to board the chartered “Ionian Queen" heading for Benghazi, the center of violent protests aimed at ousting President Muammar Gaddafi. Baldoz said the 1,700-passenger chartered ferry Ionian Queen was scheduled to dock at Libya at 2 p.m. (Manila time) at the Port of Gulani in Benghazi. “Our POLO in Tripoli has already sent us a list consisting of 1,546 Filipinos expected to board the ‘Ionian Queen,’" Baldoz said. In Tripoli, Baldoz said the Philippine Embassy and the POLO have transported another 534 workers to Djerba in the Tunisian border. A batch of 51 OFWs arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 on Tuesday afternoon, radio dzBB's Mao dela Cruz reported. Officials of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), led by administrator Carmelita Dimzon, welcomed the OFWs who arrived aboard a Gulf Air flight at 2:55 p.m. Dimzon said this batch of repatriates will stay at a halfway house as the government assists them in returning to their home provinces. The OWWA administrator had earlier said the government will call for assistance in reintegration through livelihood assistance and stress debriefing. Company-initiated repatriation Meanwhile, company-initiated evacuation and repatriation continues in Libya, although Baldoz noted that there are some companies that have no capability to do so. Baldoz said these companies have sought the Philippine government’s assistance. “For these companies, we are trying to get as much information from them as to the names, location, and contact information of their workers," she said. There are at least 26,000 Filipinos in Libya, most of them professionals working for multinational corporations that have their own evacuation plans. “Our people continue to liaise and follow-up with the recruitment agencies of these companies here in the Philippines," Baldoz said. Reintegration Baldoz said the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA) is ready to provide a grant assistance of P10,000 to every OFW coming home from Libya, in addition to the package of assistance that the National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO) is preparing for them. This package of assistance includes psycho-social counseling, skills training and upgrading, referral and placement for local and overseas employment, entrepreneurial and management training, and business loans being coordinated with state financial institutions (Land Bank, DBP). Phone, e-mail inquiries The DOLE, OWWA, and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration use a common procedure in handling phone and e-mail inquiries from families of OFWs in Libya. Calls and e-mails are being attended to by the OWWA 24/7 Operation Center, DOLE Call Center, and the POEA Assistance and Information Desk. Baldoz encouraged the public to avail of the services of these information assistance units. — PE/KBK/VS, GMA News
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