2 more batches of OFWs arrive from Libya

At least two more batches of overseas Filipino workers arrived home Friday night from strife-torn Libya, even as a government-chartered ship docked in the troubled country to take some 1,000 OFWs who are still stranded there. The first batch of 100 Filipino workers and a second batch of 30 composed the latest batches of OFWs repatriated from Libya, radio dzBB reported early Saturday. In Libya, meanwhile, the government-chartered “Ionian Queen" docked there Friday night. “The ‘Ionian Queen’ is expected to pick up some 1,000 Filipinos and take them to Crete," Overseas Workers Welfare Administration head Carmelita Dimzon said in an interview on dzBB radio. She reiterated the government has allocated P100 million to help the repatriated workers affected by the conflict. But while Filipinos began boarding the ship Saturday, a group of at least Filipino professors chose to stay behind. One of the Filipinos there, Frank Soriano, in an interview on dzRH radio, said at least eight Filipino professors at a university in Misurata in Libya opted to stay behind as they had paid much money in placement fees and had yet to receive their salaries. — LBG, GMA News