2 more batches of OFWs return from Libya Friday

At least two more batches of overseas Filipino workers returned home from strife-torn Libya before dawn Friday, with some complaining over what they consider as lack of assistance from the government for their repatriation.

The first batch arrived at 3:35 a.m. at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 2 on a Philippine Airlines flight, radio dzBB's Roland Bola reported. A separate report by dzBB's Denver Trinidad said at least 40 OFWs were on the PAL flight. A Qatar Airways flight (QR-644) bearing at least 23 more OFWs from Libya touched down at the NAIA Terminal 1 shortly after 5 a.m. Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) officials were on hand to meet the returning OFWs. The repatriated OFWs were to be brought to the OWWA halfway house in Pasay City. But the dzBB report said some of the OFWs lamented the lack of government assistance, saying their employers took care of their repatriation. Also, several other repatriated OFWs voiced concern for their fellow Filipinos who they said remain stranded in Libya. Pinoys still trapped Several Filipinos and other foreigners remain trapped in Libya and are appealing for help from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to get them out. The IOM said it received an "impassioned plea" from an African migrant who said 6,000 to 10,000 migrants are still trapped in Khomees. "They included West Africans, Chinese, Filipinos and among them were families and pregnant women. Stores were running out of food, people were increasingly getting sick and fear of repercussions against foreigners... they were too afraid to step out of doors," the IOM said. It added other groups of Filipinos, Vietnamese, Sri Lankans, Nepalese as well as Sub-Saharan Africans are stranded in large numbers in Sirt, Tripoli, Wazem, Misrata and elsewhere. "Many are without documents and passports as these had been taken by their employers," it said. The IOM also said almost 200,000 migrants now have crossed into Tunisia, Egypt and Niger, even as IOM's evacuation efforts out of Tunisia and Egypt are continuing. Nine flights, provided by the British government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), carrying nearly 1,700 people, flew from Djerba to Cairo Thursday. The IOM last Thursday began its first evacuations of migrants out of the Libyan port city of Benghazi. "Priority is being given to about 200 particularly vulnerable migrants, mostly women, children and those in need of medical assistance," it said. It added some 5,500 migrants have so far been identified at various locations at the port and surrounding warehouses, mostly from Bangladesh, India and Sudan, including small groups of Syrians, Ghanaians and other nationalities. The IOM in Benghazi said that upon talking to the migrants, many had decided to stay where they were, either because they were afraid or they were unaware of assistance being offered at the Egyptian border. Many of the migrants, particularly those from Sub-Saharan Africa, do not have documents, making it difficult for them to cross the border. IOM staff said they were impressed by the local people who had set up support groups providing food and water to the migrants as well as assisting those who do manage to leave for the border. Port authorities were also helping the migrants. — LBG, GMA News