91 Filipinos evacuated from Libya

MANILA, Philippines—The National Transitional Council  in Libya  arranged “safe passage” Thursday for 91 Filipino evacuees to the port of Tripoli, where they boarded an Egypt-bound ferry chartered by the International Organization for Migration.

The ferry, which was to carry around 300 migrant workers, was scheduled to leave the Libyan capital at around 9 a.m. (3 p.m. Thursday Manila time), according to the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli.

In a report to the Department of Foreign Affairs, the embassy said the National Transitional Council “helped our overseas Filipino workers secure exit passes, as well as provide them with security escorts” on their way to the ferry terminal.

From Alexandria port, the Filipinos would be brought to Cairo,  where they would take commercial flights to Manila.

The Geneva-based IOM “shouldered the OFWs’ travel costs from Libya to Egypt. For its part, the Philippine government will take care of the OFWs’ plane fares from Cairo to Manila,” said Raul Hernandez, DFA spokesperson.

“That’s the first batch of Filipino evacuees. It’s possible there will be a second batch. It all depends how many other OFWs would avail of the government’s repatriation program,” Hernandez added.

He said the safety of the OFWs remained the priority of the government, pointing out that Manila had ordered the mandatory evacuation of Filipinos in Libya.

According to Hernandez, the 1,700-plus Filipinos who opted to remain in Libya “have been advised by the embassy to stay put in their homes and workplaces until further notice.”

Undersecretary Rafael Seguis, on an emergency mission to Tripoli, reported to the home office that clashes were still going on in the Libyan capital and that machine gun fire and explosions could be heard.

More than 26,000 OFWs were in Libya when anti-government protests erupted six months ago. Around 13,000 of them were earlier repatriated, but Philippine officials could not account for the rest, other than the several thousand who had requested assistance to leave as violence escalated last week.

On Tuesday, the Philippine government expressed support for the NTC following the defection of the Libyan embassy staff to the Libyan rebels.