Filipino engineer seized

Libyan rebels kidnapped a Filipino engineer and seized three vehicles from the Philippine Embassy in separate incidents on Tuesday in Tripoli, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reported.

The identity of the Filipino abducted at dawn at his office, First British Engineering Company, in the Libyan capital was not disclosed by DFA spokesperson Raul Hernandez during a news briefing.

“He is the caretaker of the office and until this time he is still missing,” Hernandez said.

He said rebels also took at gunpoint three vehicles from the embassy premises in Tripoli.

He added that the two incidents had been reported to the Libyan police, noting that the embassy was still dealing with the Gadhafi government. He said the embassy staff, including visiting Foreign Undersecretary Rafael Seguis, were unharmed.

“They are all safe and Usec Seguis was able to speak to the foreign minister,” Hernandez said.

Gadhafi’s Filipino maid

Hernandez said that Seguis’ meeting with the Libyan foreign minister revolved around repatriation and safety of the Filipinos, including the maid in Gadhafi’s household.

Filipinos in Tripoli have been advised to stay indoors and refrain from participating in rallies as clashes were continuing, Hernandez said.

“There are now 91 workers who had signified they want to be repatriated, but clashes on the streets between the government and rebel forces continue which makes it difficult for repatriation to start as clearance from the government as well as from the rebel forces had to be secured,” Hernandez said.

He said five of these workers were in the embassy and the others were at home or in their workplaces.

The Geneva-based International Organization for Migration has dispatched a ferry to Tripoli to bring migrant workers out of the troubled country but still has to secure clearance from both the Gadhafi and rebel forces, Hernandez said.

Around 26,000 Filipino workers were in Libya at the start of the insurrection.

Half of the number had been evacuated, but the DFA could not account for the rest other than 1,700 of them, mostly nurses and medical workers, who had requested repatriation assistance and that 700 others were in Benghazi.

House hearing

The House committee on overseas workers’ affairs will hold a hearing today to assess the government’s evacuation plans for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Libya and Syria.

Committee chair and Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello said that lawmakers were disappointed that most of the DFA’s contingency plans for the OFWs were mostly reactive rather than proactive.

“Our sense is that the government is just catching up. We applaud the foreign secretary for personally leading the evacuation efforts in Libya a few months ago but that was not part of the original plan. We want to have details to make sure that these are not just mere plans,” Bello told a media forum.

“I think the DFA is not assuming the worst in its planning that’s why when a crisis arises, their officials are not prepared. Evacuation plans require more than pinpointing the exit points, we need to have plans where to get the funds and logistics quickly since the situation on the ground is volatile,” said Ako Bicol Rep. Rodel Batocabe.

Syria repatriation

Former Labor Undersecretary Susan Ople told reporters that repatriation of Filipinos in violence-torn Syria could be more difficult than in Libya. She said that of the estimated 17,000 OFWs in Syria, only around 800 were documented.

“Our embassy does not know their location. They know some but I’m sure it’s not 100 percent. Ninety-five percent of them are also women so they really need our prayers,” Ople said.

She said officials would also have to negotiate with the employers of these domestic workers so that they would be allowed to go home. “For example, if you have 10,000 who want to go home, then you’ll have 10,000 negotiations. They’re at the mercy of their employers,” Ople said. “In Libya, our OFWs are empowered because they are medical workers, engineers or teachers.”

Ople said local government leaders should seek out relatives of OFWs in Syria to get their addresses and telephone numbers so that the embassy in Damascus could find them.

She also urged local government units and private companies to provide financial assistance to returning OFWs.

“The salary of domestic workers in Syria is $200 but that’s not given every month according to some Filipinos I talked to. What happens if the workers return and she’s not paid?” Ople said.

Also on Tuesday, former first lady Imelda Marcos, now an Ilocos Norte representative, urged Filipinos to pray for a “peaceful and humane solution” to the crisis that is besetting Libya.

Marcos had met with Moammar Gadhafi and was instrumental in forging the Tripoli Agreement between the Philippines and Moro National Liberation Front in Libya in 1976. With reports from Gil C. Cabacungan Jr., Philip C. Tubeza and Cynthia D. Balana