Two helpers of Gaddafi kin expected in PHL Friday

The two Filipino maids who escaped from a nephew of embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi were expected to arrive in Manila on Friday, after they retreated to Tunisia earlier this week. According to Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, Diana Jill Rivera and Mary Ann Ducos Almario will fly back to the country together with Nasser Mustafa, labor attache to Libya. In a statement, Baldoz said she authorized Mustafa to accompany the women "because of security concerns." Rivera, 30, and Almario, 29, were rescued on Monday by "an Embassy team that waited in two cars near the residence where they worked." They were two of the four Filipino household helpers of Gaddafi's nephew, Sharif Sahal, who lives in Tarik Matar, Tripoli -- approximately 30 kilometers from the city center. In earlier reports, Foreign Affairs spokesperson Raul Hernandez said the two other maids -- Raquel Collantes and Zenaida Labuyuen -- "have not expressed a desire to be repatriated." Both are now working with another household, also a relative of Gaddafi, he added. "They do not fear for their safety and are also in contact with the embassy," Hernandez said. Rescue plans Baldoz disclosed that Philippine officials in Tripoli planned the rescue two weeks before it was executed, which gave Mustafa "ample time to prepare for the [maids'] repatriation documents." () "During the period before the rescue, Labatt Mustafa was already in constant telephone communication with the two," Baldoz said. She added that they "kept the rescue under wraps because of security reasons and until such time that the two have travelled back to the Philippines." She also said Mustafa informed her immediately after the operation that Rivera and Almario's original employer was in Tunisia, and the two helpers' absence may have "already been communicated" to Sahal's family. Homecoming The Labor secretary said she is "pleased" that Rivera and Almario "will soon be reunited with their families." Almario hails from the town of San Agustin in Isabela province. Rivera, meanwhile, is from Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental. The two will receive a "cash incentive" from the government, Baldoz said. "Like all the other Libyan repatriates, the DOLE will provide Rivera and Almario a cash incentive of P10, 000 each. They will also receive other forms of assistance from the government, such as free psycho-social counselling and medical examination," she said. - Rose-An Jessica Dioquino, VVP, GMA News